WILMINGTON — After the announcement that the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority would be offering a discounted rate to the Town of Wrightsville Beach following the discovery of GenX in a town aquifer, there were plenty of questions regarding the authority’s decision.
Port City Daily reached out to CFPUA spokesman Vaughn Hagerty for clarification on some of questions from readers as well as from the newsroom.
PCD: You told us this earlier this month, “As a public utility authority, CFPUA is governed by state statute. Unlike cities and counties, which can participate in community development programs, legally CFPUA cannot waive fees and treat people differently.” What has changed?
Hagerty: The Board’s action on Wednesday created a specific service. This service is for the temporary, short-term provision of bulk water at a specific rate.
GS162A-6(9) lets Authorities such as CFPUA charge different rates based on different services.
CFPUA does not have [the] authority to subsidize fees or waive fees based on household income. When entities such as cities and counties do this, they are using their community development authority, not their public enterprise authority. CFPUA does not have equivalent statutory authority.
PCD: From the release, it looks like the discount is because GenX was found in their drinking water supply but GenX was found in the rest of your water supply and in fact after it was announced the board voted on a rate increase. Why does Wrightsville Beach get a discount but the bulk of your ratepayers got a rate increase after GenX was discovered?
Hagerty: There may be some confusion over who qualifies for the special rate and what is provided under the service. A water provider such as Wrightsville Beach, with the infrastructure such as the ability to store and supply the water, may qualify for the service.
Wrightsville Beach or any other water utility would continue to have whatever costs are required to maintain that infrastructure, read meters, maintain and bill customers, and others. Those are not part of this special service. We don’t know what the Town of Wrightsville Beach plans to do should it begin using water under this new service, but it still will have whatever costs it has right now to get that water to its customers and all that goes with that.
CFPUA is [a] self-sustaining agency providing a vital service to a growing community. We maintain two drinking water treatment plants, two wastewater plants, more than 1,000 miles each of drinking water and sewer lines, not to mention about 150 pump stations. All of that, along with the necessary upgrades and updates, are funded almost entirely through rates and fees.
The rate in the special service approved Wednesday is based on the incremental costs that CFPUA would incur to produce the additional water, so the revenues necessary to sustain the CFPUA system are unaffected.
PCD: Was this water at Wrightsville Beach previously unaffected until CFPUA’s water supply tainted it? Is this CFPUA’s way of saying, sorry we tainted your water? Here is a discount?
Hagerty: CFPUA developed this service as an option to provide mutual aid to a regional water utility. We would do the same for others who would qualify for the service. You would need to check with Wrightsville Beach regarding previous testing of their water system.
PCD: Do you still stand by your statement that CFPUA could not discount water rates for affordable housing efforts?
Hagerty: Yes, as spelled out above. Even so, we do what we can. For example, CFPUA Assist is a program that seeks to help customers in financial need. This program is administered by the New Hanover County Department of Social Services and provide one-time payments to customers faced with losing access to water service. The program is currently in the process of being formalized into a 501 c(3), which will make it eligible for additional funding opportunities.
(Editor’s note: Port City Daily also reached out to Wrightsville Beach Town Manager Tim Owens on Thursday morning with questions about the town’s position on the contaminated wells, CFPUA’s bulk water offer, the town’s lawsuit against Chemours and DuPont, and other issues. Owens did not respond.)
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