BY LISA STAYTON
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INÉZ — Alliance Water Resources vice president Tony Sneed traveled from Missouri to recommend a $5 per month sewer rate increase and present the 2024 sewer district budget. Sneed attended the July 27 Martin County Sanitation District board meeting.

Sneed told board members that he included the $5 monthly debt service surcharge customers have been paying for the past five years to balance the budget. He offered that increasing the rate would allow the district to use the DSS to settle past-due vendor bills as intended.

“It’s a board decision,” Sneed stated.

The sewer board approved the $836,408 budget while leaving the decision on the rate increase for later discussions.

Board chairman Jimmy Don Kerr stressed the need for more funding.

“I’m not necessarily telling you that I want to raise the sewer $5, but I’m telling you it’s something we need to talk about,” Kerr said.

Board member Nina McCoy was strongly against raising rates on the “poorest citizens” without asking local businesses for forgiveness of the bills the sewer district owes.

Kerr stated he was open to discussing McCoy’s suggestion, adding that local vendors had carried the water and sewer districts for years without charging interest.

“They deserve to be paid because they did sell the water and sanitation districts their products with the idea that they would be paid back,” added the chairman.

“We are either going to do what we’ve got to do, or else we are going to continue to fail. Our sewer system is in bad shape.”

Kerr warned of potential fines and credited Alliance for the fact that regulators have overlooked sewer violations in Martin County.

“If Alliance hadn’t been here, we would have been fined an immense amount of money,” stated Kerr. “The stuff I’ve seen and had conversations about, Alliance has literally saved us from just being fined out of existence.”

Following a discussion about the Martin County Fiscal Court being awarded $3.1 million to improve the sewer system in Martin County, including a plan to upgrade the Inez sewer plant and expand service to approximately 100 new customers on New Route 3, board member John Paul Hensley said adding more customers is the only way to increase the district’s revenue.

Sneed agreed, “That’s true. This money that we’re getting in, that’s not going to [operations and maintenance]. That’s capital projects that have to be done. Your [operations and maintenance] costs haven’t changed any. The only way to improve the [operations and maintenance] costs is to raise the rates or to increase your customer base.”

The sewer district’s June 2023 financial picture showed it billed 867 customers a total of $73,748 for slightly more than 4 million gallons. The district collected $71,250.80, while expenses amounted to $90,012.

In comparison, in July 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, the sewer district collected $77,902 for 5.1 million gallons and had 890 customers.

Past-due bills to vendors grew to $500,000 in June 2023. Those bills include Alliance Water Resources $383,636.93; Zip Zone Express $50,760.47; Linda Sumpter CPA $30,405.40; Evans Hardware $18,525.84; United Rentals $8,672.68; Howell’s Recycling & Sanitation $6,050; and Martin County Water District $5,560.

In comparison, past-due vendor bills amounted to $129,759 in July 2020. Those included Zip Zone Express $50,760.47; Linda Sumpter CPA $30,861.48; Evans Hardware $16,471.22; Wascon Inc. $12,653.13; United Rentals $8,964.97; Howell’s Recycling $6,050; and Martin County Water District $5025.76.

The board voted to renew Alliance’s contract a year early, adding a hold-harmless clause absolving Alliance of legal liability for injuries or damages.

Alliance manager Tyler Hall gave positive reports on maintenance and operations. Hall said the district was still awaiting the arrival of a pump for Dempsey Housing. In the meantime, staff installed a new  2-1/2 horsepower chopper pump at Quail Hollow, saving workers from needing to service the station daily with a pump truck. The district also completed preventative maintenance on the sewer lift station at Riverside Apartments.

“That’s such a great win for us,” said Hall, adding that the Tug Valley Waste Water Treatment Plant in Warfield is operating “great.”