County wants city to manage Edisto Drive sewer system

April 29--Orangeburg County Council wants the City of Orangeburg to take over the management of the Edisto Drive wastewater system to reduce costs for residents in the area.

"We have gone after a lot of grant funds and we have built out a lot of sewer systems in that area," County Councilman Johnnie Wright said. "I think it would be beneficial to the citizens."

But city officials say taking over the system would prove costly for the Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities.

"Sewer treatment is expensive and the cost has gone up a great deal in the last 14 years," DPU Manager Tommy Miller said.

The sewer costs were discussed last week during a joint meeting between Orangeburg County Council and Orangeburg City Council. The officials also discussed the tax on airplanes and fire service for the areas around the city.

Wright estimates the county has invested nearly $15 million in the western portion of the Edisto sewer project. The wastewater system could run all the way to Edisto High School in the future.

County Councilman Willie B. Owens wondered why the county has been required to spend all the money on infrastructure with no charge to the city.

"We don't charge you when we turn it over to you," Owens said. "That is a benefit to the city. I pay you for engineering, I pay you for this, I pay you for that. When I look at the list, I say, 'Hell, we are paying the city for everything. What is the city paying us for?'

"There is no equity there. You use it. You collect the money. Most of the benefit of it goes to the city."

City Administrator John Yow said the city's plant accepts the waste.

"The city puts millions into the wastewater plant," Yow said. "There is the reciprocation."

Yow also noted that the city just approved spending $27 million to expand the wastewater plant.

"Expanding the wastewater plant allows it to send the waste from the lines that are being put in," he said. "The city is not growing that money. This is accepting waste outside of the city."

Owens told Yow, "But you make millions of dollars."

Miller said DPU's rates are used to maintain the system.

"There is not a lot of money there for future infrastructure," he said. "That is why we require the customer and contributions or, in cases of housing development, earnest income contributions. There is not a lot of mark-up in water and wastewater."

Miller said there are a number of concerns that would have to have satisfied before DPU took over the system.

He said the first phase of the sewer project did not follow specifications requested by DPU, such as coding manholes to protect the system from emitting sewer gases.

"There are just a lot of small things," Miller said.

He also noted that currently, there are diesel-fired generators at the wastewater pumping stations. DPU requires natural gas at all its wastewater pumping stations, Miller said. He said if the city were to take over the project, it would require an additional $280,000 to change out the pumping stations.

Because of these outstanding questions, he said there would have to be an engineering and legal review of the project's first phase before the project could be transferred from the county to the city.

"We have estimated ... and this is just a ballpark estimate of about $100,000 to conduct all that legal and engineering review," Miller said.

Owens asked Miller if there had been any problems with the first phase of the project.

Miller said there had not been.

"Thank you," Owens said.

Miller said if DPU took over the project, it would not, in fact, be beneficial for the residents in the area. He said the city has had wastewater increases in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2014.

"If we were to take that over, those customers would immediately start paying at the rate that City Council approved April 1, 2014, which is more than what they are paying now," he said.

County Administrator Harold Young said DPU's out-of-city residential rates are about $3 lower than the current county rate.

"I need to go back and look at that, but I thought our rate was more," he said. "We don't want to upset customers by all of a sudden having big changes in their cost."

Both councils agreed to review the rates to ensure they are all on the same page.

Council directed Miller and Young to meet on the matter and come to a better understanding of how the two can address the county's request.

Airplane tax

County Council members expressed openness to considering a reduction in the assessment ratio for airplanes from 10.5 percent to 4 percent if the city would pass a resolution requesting that the tax be lowered. Upon receiving the city's resolution, county council would then need to pass an ordinance to make it law.

As it is now, a person who owns an airplane and registers it in the county is subject to a 10.5 percent tax on the aircraft. Other counties tax airplanes at about 4 percent, and some Orangeburg airplane owners have docked their planes and registered them in counties with lower tax rates, city officials say.

City officials say a lower tax rate would help make the county more competitive and help to draw potential investors, such as Boeing, into the county if the rate is lower.

At the current tax rate, the county brings in about $101,000 annually from the planes. Should the tax rate be cut to 4 percent, it is estimated the county would receive about $38,000.

The city says if the tax rate is lowered, more higher value planes would come in, which would offset any revenue losses due to the tax decrease.

City fire tax district

Currently, the City of Orangeburg is not obligated to answer fire calls within five miles outside the city limits unless the owner or tenant has a fire contract for coverage. However, firefighters with the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety respond to fires outside of the city limits even if a person has not paid an annual fire contract fee.

"We are searching for something more equitable the same as the county fire tax district, where everyone pays a rate based on a millage status," Yow said. "That is one way you don't have some people paying the fire contracts and some people not paying the fire contracts."

He said the city has a Class 3 ISO fire rating. Those not paying a fire contract will still benefit from the Class 3 rating, Yow noted. The higher the rating, the lower the home insurance premiums.

"Most homeowners insurance would actually go down," Yow said. "You would be collecting from so many more."

The city is collecting about $800,000, but it cost more than $1 million to run the service, he said.

The county would create the tax district and would contract with the city to provide services in the district. An ordinance will have to approved for the tax district to become law.

Contact the writer: gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5551.

___

(c)2014 The Times and Democrat (Orangeburg, S.C.)

Visit The Times and Democrat (Orangeburg, S.C.) at thetandd.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services