Council in murky water over fee hike
MONCKS CORNER — Berkeley councilmen who think the county failed to properly notify customers of a large increase in water and sewer impact fees this summer are faced with a moral dilemma.
If they ignore legal advice and do what they believe is right, it could cost the county a lot of money. If they do nothing, the county might be sued.
Council spent more than two hours Monday night debating with their own staff and attorney about the merits of a moratorium on the increased fees.
Previous stories
Water, sewer costs to rise in Berkeley County; Residents to pay more for service because of loan interest rate increase, published 02/08/08
Belt-tightening won't help authority; Berkeley Co. rate hike a 'necessary evil', published 03/25/08
Some on council are on the side of customers and developers who complained that they weren't told about the increases while others customers and developers were.
Thomas M. Evans, owner of the Strawberry Station Manufactured Housing Development, said no one bothered to tell him the impact fees on each of his 65 remaining lots would shoot up from $2,500 to $6,300 overnight.
"It wasn't advertised," he said. "They chose and handpicked a few. I was on the books for 65 lots and they (Water and Sanitation) didn't know it? I beg your pardon."
David Jennings, attorney for the Water and Sanitation Authority, said the staff went above and beyond by holding seminars and meetings with a builders association and sending letters to customers.
He said it's impossible to get the message across to all 39,000 customers but all of the legal requirements were met. "As a member of your staff, I'm not sure what the problem is," Jennings said.
"Your problem is you've got blinders on," Councilman Bill Crosby responded.
Council members have said they were concerned the county might
face a lawsuit from the people who felt they weren't notified.
Crosby and fellow Councilmen Jack Schurlknight and Tim Callanan said it's an issue of fairness.
Some customers noted that the authority chose not to publish a list of all increases in the newspaper this year, as is has in the past. This year the authority ran an ad notifying customers of a public hearing, which council was aware of at the time, Jennings said.
Schurlknight said just because what they did was legal doesn't make it right.
"You're sitting there saying we did the legal thing," Schurlknight said. "Morally I don't think we did the right thing."
Jennings and Water and Sanitation Director Colin Martin said a moratorium on all fees now would be costly. First, the authority would have to immediately give back the $578,000 it has collected since the new fees went into effect July 1.
A moratorium also would allow developers to pre-pay at the old, cheaper rate. The county might see a sudden influx in cash now, but it would cost the county the higher fees in the long run. That would result in a net loss, putting the county at risk of breaking its promise to investors who bought their bonds, Jennings said.
Council raised rates and fees by 30 percent this year to get out from under a financial crisis caused by a perfect storm of economic factors, including a risky loan venture and the failure to slightly increase rates in previous years. Officials said the county was supplementing the low rates with growth-related fees that went down with the housing market.
Councilmen asked if it was possible to put a moratorium on only the impact fees, but Jennings said no. He also said making cuts in other areas of the budgets wouldn't make a moratorium any easier.
"In terms of the total water and sanitation budget, it's a pebble in the lake," Jennings said.
Still, Jennings said, he and the staff will do whatever council wants it to do.
"I'm perfectly willing to defend you if it goes south," he said.
Council is expected to discuss the issue again during its Nov. 10 Water and Sewer Committee meeting.
Reach Andy Paras at 745-5891 or aparas@postandcourier.com.
E-mail this story 
Printer-friendly version
Notice about comments:
The Post and Courier is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. The Post and Courier does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not postandcourier.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "suggest removal" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our Web site.
Full terms and conditions can be read here.
Comments
This article has 10 comment(s)
Posted by statusquo on October 30, 2008 at 1:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Let’s see the county makes poor financial decisions and the people will have to pay for it. Sounds familiar?, to the tune of 30% rate hikes. Americans and south Carolinians continue sleep at the wheel when you wake up you will be in a communist country.
Posted by EqualityB4theLawThinkAgain on October 30, 2008 at 6:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I am affected by the poor decisions of the Berkeley County Water and Sewer Board. My water bill has gone up from an avg of $50/mo to $70/mo with no dramatic increse in useage. I believe SLED should investigate the Board for possible corruption in its sweetheart deals to developers. All of the land around the Hwy 52 corridor to Moncks Corner was basically worthless until water and sewer lines were laid and developers were able to tap into the system at cheap fees. I wonder who got a big campaign contribution - County Council? Zoning Board Commissioners? County Manager? In any event, the Board should resign due to the members' incompetance and failure to protect the public.
Posted by moonpie on October 30, 2008 at 6:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"MURKY WATER" how about flat out muddy, can't see through the water!?
You dang straight you should all resign. But you can bet every last one of you will be voted out of office. $6300 impact fees, who do you think you are IOP, SI, MT P?
Don't pass your failures to govern to the people.
WHEN ARE THE PEOPLE GOING TO TAKE BACK THEIR GOVERNMENTS? LOCAL, STATE, FEDERAL, WE CAN DO MUCH BETTER.
This years elections are proof we need a 3rd party. I'm fed up with the dems and repubs.
Posted by nimby on October 30, 2008 at 7:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Water and Sanitation is not governed by a board. It's run by Dan Davis' cronies with financial control through County Council. I think when all the facts come out people will find that the reserves that existed in Water Sewer before Davis got control were used to fund Davis' & Cronies' payback projects in the regular county budget. The variable rate bond issue was used as the reason but that only accounts for a small portion of the 30% rate increase.
It's easier to get a rate increase for Water Sewer based on phoney facts than have council vote on a straight tax increase. Jennings admitted at last council meeting that water sewer reserves could be used for other county uses and Davis nodded in aproveal and smiled.
Ask yourself why the Berkeley County Republican Party State Executive Committeman, who championed Dan Davis' election, would recieve a 200K plus contract for dirt that no one else submitted a bid on. Tell me no other contactor was interested in these economic times. This smells as bad the influent to the main treatment plant.
Posted by oldglory on October 30, 2008 at 8:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
nimby, very interesting comments.
"He said it's impossible to get the message across to all 39,000 customers but all of the legal requirements were met. "As a member of your staff, I'm not sure what the problem is," Jennings [attorney] said."
Yeah, I guess carrier pigeons and pony express let this attorney, et al., down. Of course, they cannot afford radio advertising, snail mail, nor email because they would probably be in default on that ARM loan the loonies took out. Further, this attorney maybe needs to have his ashes hauled, because he's not SURE what the problem is. (I'm pretty sure, because I was a paralegal all of my working life.)
"Jennings and Water and Sanitation Director Colin Martin said a moratorium on all fees now would be costly. First, the authority would have to immediately give back the $578,000 it has collected since the new fees went into effect July 1."
LMAO - costly to them? because at the moment it's only costly to us, the customers. We are the ones who have to pay back that ARM, and we are the ones who have to make up the economic crisis deficit (meaning the costs that water and sanitation have). Now who the heck makes up the deficits to the average tax payers and customers? Looks as though we'll be paying for the-powers-that-be totally STUPID decisions for the rest of our lives.
Apparently the only intelligence still alive in Berkely County resides in this person:
'"You're sitting there saying we did the legal thing," Schurlknight said. "Morally I don't think we did the right thing."' We need to keep someone like this right where he is. When is the last time you heard of someone having morals and ethics while performing his job?
Posted by hotchick on October 30, 2008 at 9:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
nimby - while I agree that the citizens should have ALL had proper notice, I think for once you are placing blame on the wrong person. The BAD LOAN DEAL was the brainchild of the previous administrator and approved by county council long before Davis and Martin came into their positions. We are being asked to clean up from the poor judgment on the part of an person who is now sitting on his front porch in North Carolina laughing at us.
Agree with oldglory about Schurlknight. He seems to be the only one that is thinking clearly.
Posted by sig on October 30, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Make sure we vote Dan Davis out. We have dealt with him and he talks a great talk but will not take the action he told you he would.
Good Bye Mr. Davis and crew.
Posted by eyfigueroa on October 30, 2008 at 4:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Dang oldglory! I like the way you think.
My water/sewer bill has also gone up and I've had one daughter to leave!
You gotta love local government & politics!
Posted by mac0cm4 on October 31, 2008 at 6:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Morally they shouldn't have farked up their budget so much in years past that they had to do this... so... one idiot decision begets another.
Posted by nimby on October 31, 2008 at 8:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
In response to hotchick: I agree that Rozier did, with council's approval, set up the synthetic bond. At first it was saving us interest so you should take that into account when calculating the total loss.
However, if Davis had been paying attention to the budget on a monthly basis as he should be, the loss would have been minimal. And by the way the attorneys make money when they issue or reissue bonds for government entities.