After coming out as Richmond County’s $1 million Golden LEAF applicant, Ellerbe is looking to get the remaining $3.5 million of the $4.5 million needed for the Ellerbe-Richmond County-Rockingham Wastewater Regionalization Initiative through loans and grants.
“If we know that there’s other money committed, it makes it easier for us to add some to the pot,” said Julie Haigler Cubeta, Senior Director of the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center’s Physical Infrastructure Office. “(Ellerbe officials) believe that GoldenLEAF will offer them $1 million. They could potentially be eligible for $1 million from us, but that’s dependent upon them applying and putting together a good application.”
In addition to going over grant prospects with the Rural Center, Town Council Members Jerry Meacham and Archie Robinson, as well as Jim Perry from the Lumber River Council of Governments, looked at additional funding options from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund.
“They were all impressed with the (GoldenLEAF prospect)” said Robinson. “They did bring up that we’re going to have to raise (sewer) rates in order to get any money.”
Cubeta confirmed that Ellerbe’s combined sewer and water rates must be increased to match 1.5 percent of the town’s median household income. The fact that Ellerbe has been borrowing from capital reserves to subsidize sewer operations came to light in recent town council budget discussions.
According to Cubeta, the Rural Center sees many cases of municipalities that provide sewer service, but aren’t doing viable sewer business, especially now that the economy is in the state it’s in.
“If rates are not increased to meet the operations and maintenance costs, as well as put aside a little money for future needs, they’re going to run into a situation where water and sewer system costs run a deficit,” said Cubeta. “It’s very common for small towns to have systems that have been built some time ago, when maybe the population was not as large. If the system has outlived its useful life, it may be time to consolidate and send wastewater to a treatment facility with the capacity to handle it.”
For Ellerbe, the City of Rockingham has that facility. The two municipalities will be looking at terms of an intergovernmental agreement at some point. Ellerbe will also be inquiring about money from Richmond County.
“The Board of Commissioners is interested in the project and seeing it go forward because it would open up so much of the county to development along U.S. Hwy. 220,” said County Manager Jim Haynes, who added that the concept of possible county funding is premature, but still “within the realm of possibility.”
For right now, Cubeta has advised Ellerbe to arrange for the following: A preliminary engineering report; an environmental assessment and an inflow and infiltration study on the existing system - which the Rural Center could potentially help pay for through planning grants.
According to Cubeta, older systems often present the problem of groundwater seeping in with wastewater, thus increasing the total amount that the wastewater facility has to treat.
“We would strongly suggest that Ellerbe an inflow and infiltration study so that they can find out where the leaks are and do a rehabilitation of its existing collection system,” said Cubeta.
According to Robinson, Perry will be doing grant applications to the parties they met with Tuesday. The next step is sitting down with the engineer, talking to the county, and getting a ballpark figure.
“I don’t think (grants) can give us the whole amount,” said Robinson. “I believe we’re still going to have to get a low-interest loan. But so far I feel pretty good about it. They thought it was a good project.”
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