Water authority calls meeting
The Lamar County Water and Sewer authority has called a meeting for Monday, June 13 at 5:30 p.m.
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Having said that, I know that there are probably no other options or solutions to the mess that the Water Authority now finds itself. If the county takes it over and assumes the debt, then taxes would have to be raised to cover that debt. There are only 880 paying customers - most having no choice and required to be hooked in to the system and not able to have wells because they live in subdivisions. How could you expect 880 households to pay for 8 million dollars of debt. Remember, they are not the ones that caused that debt. The other option would be to spread it over all of the tax payers in the county -- you would be able to hear the screams all the way to Atlanta if that were to occur.
But, "ME", you seems to be omniscient, so pray tell, what is your solution? Do have a real one, or do you just want to get on this blog and bitch and condemn those who are trying to come up with the best alternatives at the least cost for everyone in the county.
I don't always agree with our county commissioners, but they are not the evil people that they are accused of being. Have you forgotten what county government was like here in years past? Or maybe you are part of the "good ole boys" network and want to return to it.
How do you expect to get good people to run for office if they are just ripped apart once they assume that office? Every last one of us needs to participate and be part of the process and not just sit on blogs complaining.
do the research.
After the grass was growing they came back out dug it up and put the meters in then had to grade it back out and reseed it.
Now why could they not hook up the meters the first time, it cost a lot of money to truck the same machines back and forth and to dig the same hole twice.
On top of that they only put in about 10 meters and laid about 15 miles of pipe.
The water workers did the funniest thing about 2 weeks ago they were back out here messing with the hydrant they had it running for about an hour or so. The guys were sitting on the tail gate of the tuck watching the water run when another water authority truck showed up and back right in to the first tuck knocking one of the men off of the tail gate.
First, I do agree with you on one thing. If it were at all possible, I would prefer to have the County take over the Water Authority. And yes, they could put the Authority's operating expenses toward paying down the debt by having current County employees operate and maintain the system. And that would be a wonderful solution if the debt were a mere $200,000 or even a $1,000,000. But the debt is $8,000,000 with an annual note of $460,000 which was due this past April. Since the Authority could not make the payment, GEFA will be calling in the full amount of the loan. On top of that, the first payment on the USDA loan is due this year. That means that at a minimum, Lamar County would be responsible for paying the full amount owed to GEFA this year. How do you propose that they come up with that amount of money? I don't know about you, but I cannot afford what would probably have to be at the minimum a 4 mil hike in property taxes to do so.
As far a lowering the cost of hooking on to the system, you could charge nothing and still not get people to hook on and become paying customers. People who already have wells and septic tanks are not going to hook into a system and pay for water when they already have it for free.
I don't think that your solution is viable.
Now, "ME" and "# 6", I am as upset as the next person about how poorly the Water Authority was run. I am upset with the poor economic planning from the get go. Were deals made and pockets lined? Who knows? I prefer not to be as cynical as you, but I am not ruling out that someone wasn't trying to "cut a big ole fat hog". But you need to understand that the County and the Water Authority are two different entities. While we have a right to be angry with those who got us in this mess, it it doesn't solve anything to sit on this blog, criticizing those who are now trying to find a remedy that will have the least detrimental impact on the Citizens of the County. What happened in the past is done and over with. A solution has to be found for the future.
I have really grown tired of people calling our current Board of Commissioners ignorant and crooked. As I said before, I don't always agree with them and sometimes I think they make poor choices, but I know that I don't always make the wisest decisions either-- do you? And, I KNOW that I don't have all of the answers. Please, if YOU do, why don't you run for office. And thank God, I am not so jaded as to believe that once someone gets into office, they all become self serving crooks.
Guess ignorance is bliss to some.
when you are responsible you should tally up at the end of each day, My water bill is too high.