Bryson City residents decry water rate increase
Bryson City has raised its water rates to pay for repairs and expansion to an aging system with a few glaring issues. Stock photo
It’s been a long time coming, in a sense, but frustrations have finally reached a boiling point as Bryson City raised water rates ahead of what promises to be a few expensive municipal projects.
The furor began last month when residents and business owners noticed their water bills had sharply increased — in some cases by over 300%. For some businesses like restaurants, breweries, coffee shops and hotels that use a lot of water and can operate on tight margins, such an increase can create a serious hardship.
The start of the new fiscal year was July 1, which began the new water rates that customers saw on their August bills.
The new billing structure implemented July 1 increased the base rates while charging an extra $15 per 1,000 gallons for any usage over 2,000 gallons. Other municipalities in the region are quite a bit cheaper and set their rates based on meter size.
For example, in Maggie Valley, depending on that meter size, customers pay $50 for 15,000 gallons, $75 for 20,000 gallons, $100 for 25,000 gallons or $150 for 35,000 gallons. Additional usage is $7 per 1,000 gallons.
Similarly, for the Town of Highlands, the first 5,000 gallons are included in the base rate and additional usage is $7.50 per extra 1,000 gallons. Larger municipalities like Asheville and Charlotte charge even lower rates.
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Bryson City’s new rates are based on a recommendation from the UNC School of Government that aimed to simplify the fee structure. Previously, the town’s usage charges were separate for inside and outside town limits (a fairly common practice also adopted by the likes of Highlands). Inside, the usage rate started at $3.02 for up to 5,000 gallons for water and $3.37 for sewer. Outside, the usage rate started at $5.91 for water and $6.61 for sewer.
Several business owners and residents turned out at a meeting on Aug. 27 that offered a chance not only to vent frustrations but also to get some answers from elected officials and town staff in a meeting that became contentious to the point that Mayor Tom Sutton shut it down after about two and a half hours.
The Smoky Mountain Times reported on the increased rates and the ire those rates drew throughout last month ahead of last week’s meeting. An Aug. 14 Smoky Mountain Times story features information obtained during a sit-down with town officials. In that story, it’s mentioned that the system was in a tough spot as it has such few customers — only about 1,800 water and 1,300 sewer — and multiple large capital projects on the horizon, including providing water to a new middle school and constructing a new wastewater treatment plant.
In that story, Town Engineer Nate Bowe said he and other officials weren’t concerned with what other systems charge when considering the town’s needs.
“I realize this is a surprise to many, but that was how it was calculated in striving for a zero-sum finale at the end of fiscal year based on historic consumption of the previous fiscal year and hoping there are some efficiencies realized in the system,” Bowe said in that story.
Last week’s meeting began with Mayor Sutton explaining the situation.
“You’re probably wondering how this got started,” he said. “We’re in the midst of inflation just like everybody else in this country.”
Sutton went on to explain that money is being poured into the sewer system to contend with clay pipes that are old and leaky and have seen heavy infiltration in certain areas when it rains. This has overburdened the already aging wastewater treatment plant that is expected to cost about $15 million to replace.
“It’s literally a sprocket and chain operation down there like your bicycle on some of that stuff,” he said of the plant’s current condition.
One of the biggest issues with the outrage over the new water rates is the lack of communication between the town and the water system’s customers.
“We’re working on our communication,” Sutton said. “No one’s going to tell you’ve we’ve done as good as we could in communication.”
Sutton noted that the town is developing a new website that will improve communication and that it’s also trying to bolster its social media presence. Sutton also encouraged residents to get on the town’s sunshine list, which enables them to receive emails noticing upcoming meetings, including budget workshops and the like.
“We’re hoping y’all will see this as a two-way street and try looking at our stuff,” he said.
A number of commercial and residential customers took to the podium to voice frustrations, and many were skeptical of recent meter readings that indicate massive increases in usage. Mike Clampitt, who represents Swain, Transylvania and Jackson counties in the North Carolina House of Representatives, voiced his concern. Clampitt, a Bryson City resident, is on the town’s water system and brought photographs of meter readings that indicate a far higher usage. He said the recent high readings were incorrect.
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” he told the board.
In that and other instances, Bowe and Sutton said that people should call in with their concerns, and a town employee will come check out each issue individually.
Clampitt noted in a follow-up interview with The Smoky Mountain News that he is also pursuing avenues in Raleigh to gain more funding, including an ask from the General Assembly for $10 million in state funding to address the capital improvement needs. While that money wasn’t awarded this year, he said he will renew that request next year.
Some speakers got into the weeds asking questions about how the systems operate and how they are funded. Some of those speakers had done in-depth research and some had misconceptions. All were frustrated with what they considered not only mismanagement of the improvements needed in the water system but also a failure of leadership at the municipal, county and state levels to work together toward solutions.
The speaker who drew perhaps the loudest applause and the most attention once he left the podium was Paul Valone, a conservative author and activist who is especially prominent in the statewide pro-Second Amendment movement. He currently heads up the group Grass Roots North Carolina. Valone told the board that he has plenty of experience lobbying at the local and state level for and against certain ordinances and legislation, which can make him an effective thorn in the side of the town board.
“What I see is, quite frankly, malfeasance,” Valone said. “What I see is the deferment of maintenance and bad judgment in a way that negatively impacts not only business owners but the citizens of the town.”
“The easiest way I can see to alleviate this problem would be to create a political action committee to start … raising money and removing members of the town government,” he later noted. “I really don’t want to do that, but if need be, I’m going to start organizing the citizens of this town in a way I do not think you will find pleasant.”
Valone also added that he is no stranger to litigation, should things go that way.
“Please, don’t make me do this,” he said.
As the meeting drew on, there were occasional outbursts from the crowd, which Sutton tried his best to quell.
“This is not the time for you to make side comments,” Sutton said at one point to a woman who began shouting that she was frustrated with her residential rate. “We’re not going to do this.”
Toward the end, as the crowd size waned, a few individuals became more hostile toward the board. During one outburst, a man in the crowd shouted, “Everyone here needs to talk to [Paul Valone].” Eventually, Sutton came to the conclusion there wouldn’t be any more constructive dialogue and called the meeting over, and the couple dozen frustrated customers headed home.
However, Sutton did have one final announcement. He told those in attendance that the town would not shut anyone’s water off, and although the details were a bit fuzzy, he also offered that anyone who was discovered to have overpaid on a bill once this is ironed out would be refunded.
