After freezing all funds related to the projects just one month ago, the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority board followed suit with New Hanover County commissioners in committing funding for septic-to-sewer improvements for the Marquis Hills and Heritage Park neighborhoods.
As commissioners did Monday, the utility board voted unanimously today to share some of the cost of the two projects, agreeing to contribute $2,500 per property—the authority’s standard service development charge—and $1.3 million to cover costs of engineering and design of the projects.
With approximately 980 parcels involved overall, that adds up to a total contribution of nearly $3.8 million, and helps bring down the individual costs to property owners, who otherwise were looking at paying $5,000 per parcel in Marquis Hills and $11,000 per parcel in Heritage Park, which is also slated to receive water improvements.
On Monday, the county agreed to assume the full financial responsibility for the two projects, which are projected to cost, combined, just under $17 million over the course of a 20-year, low-interest loan that the county has acquired. The county has also qualified for a grant that could reduce that overall amount by as much as $3 million.
County Manager Chris Coudriet said the loan could be closed on by Dec. 3, with construction to start next spring and completion scheduled for winter 2016 for Marquis Hills, spring 2016 for Heritage Park. Debt service on the loan would not start until fiscal year 2017.
“So we still have several years before the actual debt service payment would be made that we would look to you to make the $2,500-per-lot contribution, but the engineering would need to move now,” Coudriet said, “so that we can close on that loan.”
Authority CEO Matt Jordan pointed out the funding arrangement is the same proposal initially recommended to the board months ago—before the county board voted the projects down by a majority vote in February, and before the authority board was asked to assume the full financial responsibility.
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Jordan noted those amounts had already been included in the authority’s 10-year capital improvement plan, meaning no additional budgeting would be required. The only change, Jordan said, was the addition of water service for Heritage Park, where staff had since identified wells that would need to be relocated in order to run sewer through the neighborhood. Replacing those wells with water lines was deemed more reasonable than relocating wells, Jordan said.
Board member Cindee Wolf led the board in the vote, with Vice Chairwoman Pat Kusek seconding her motion.
Jordan said next steps would involve working with the county on an interlocal agreement that would come to the board at a later date, and then proceeding with the engineering work.
Commissioners Chairman Woody White, who led that board in scrutinizing the projects in terms of prioritization and public health risk, reiterated comments he made Monday in deciding his concerns had been satisfied.
“I think it’s important that the citizens know first that this is what’s good about government: when we partner and work together,” he said. “This has taken four or five months for us to get here, and a lot of questions that the commissioners had have been answered satisfactorily.
“And secondly, it’s offered us an opportunity to direct our staff to adopt a ten-year plan, because it’s not a reasonable expectation that our citizens have that we’ve solved this problem; we’ve just solved two neighborhoods,” he said. “We have existing neighborhoods all over the county that have the same situation right now, and we’re hopeful that over the next ten years we can continue to move to the next priority and the next priority.
“We still have $60 million of need, after we take action today, of septic systems that we need to ultimately convert to the sewer plan. So this is a good first step, and I would encourage all of you and your future board members to continue this,” White said. “Otherwise, we’re going to be in the same boat with the rest of the neighborhoods and continue to reinvent this wheel each time.”
Wolf echoed those comments, from the authority’s perspective.
“Certainly these projects—the cooperation is fantastic,” she said. “And the result is going to not only benefit the county and its quality of life and its health standards, but absolutely it will benefit the ratepayers of the authority in expanding the system and making it more efficient.”
Added Jim Quinn, the board’s chairman: “This is a major change in our direction, boys and girls. We’ve broken through another barrier and we’re moving ahead. So, good work.”
Jonathan Spiers is a reporter for Port City Daily. He can be reached at (910) 772-6313 or [email protected]. On Twitter: @jrspiers
