One of the Town of Norwood’s worst enemy to our sewer system is Grease.

Sure, we know that you just want it gone and often times the kitchen sink tends to be the most convenient,but don’t do it. Please see our little chart featuring the Grease Goblin. We have locked him up at the moment and provided a helpful list of Do’s and Don’ts.

The short answer is no. A portion of your Stanly County property taxes partially fund education. In North Carolina, those tax dollars are allocated by the Stanly County Commissioners. Municipalities do not have the statutory authority to provide for education as those powers are granted and delegated by the North Carolina General Assembly.  In rare cases, a city school district may be the local education agency (LEA). Towns such as Norwood cannot use General Fund dollars to pay for any portion of education, school supplies, or athletics at any school inside or outside of their municipal corporate limits.

For a brief summary of the basics of Public School Finance, this document from the North Carolina Center for County Research will provide  an overview as well as the corresponding  NC General Statute.

The question of who funds public education often comes up this time of year as the NC Legislature enters its short session and County Commissions begin to  hold budget workshops with the local education agency(LEA) that they fund.  The  chart above illustrates how public schools are funded and provides a brief overview of where the money comes from.

In North Carolina, funds for public education are provided primarily from the Federal government, the State of NC, and the County (or City if they govern a LEA). In the case of Stanly County, no municipality or town has jurisdiction or funding requirements over any school. The Stanly County Board of Education receives  funding from the three sources above as well as donations by private individuals or foundations, etc.

In order to provide some additional information, Kara Millonzi from the UNC School of Government has some additional information in her blog County Responsibility for Public School Funding as well as links to the statutes that might be  helpful for those who are not familiar with public school funding. Kara shares both the constitutional and statutory framework for public school funding in North Carolina.

On Monday night  May 7th 2018,  The Norwood Board of Commissioners heard a presentation by representatives of the NC  Rural Water Association.

Terry Green and Marty Wilson presented their findings following an extensive review of the towns utility operations. The rate study was done at the request of Town Administrator, John Mullis.

Wilson remarked that a Proposed Rate Increase of 62 percent would be required in order for revenue to match expenses including debt service and depreciation. This would move your existing $16.44 rate to $26.63 ($10.19 on the base rate) or a 62% increase. Wilson advised council  the town has not raised rates in several years. The recent Berry Hill Sewer project  was approved in April 0f 2014 yet no provisions to pay for the additional debt requirement were made at that time. While you will have some debt dropping off from completed projects, the debt service for this project alone requires an annual payment of $163,000 for 20 years. Current State Bond Obligations. In current dollars, that equates to every utility customer paying $8/mo for 20 years to cover the state bond debt obligations for this one project alone. The current rate structure will not support this additional debt and leaves limited borrowing capacity to address other critical infrastructure projects that are greatly needed. This creates the need to pull from fund balance which should be a last resort.  Ideally, rates are adjusted to accommodate for the additional debt load at the time the town encumbers itself for the project. In this case, a rate increase in 2014 and even beyond would have softened the need for larger rate increases now.

It is important to note, that as collection and distribution  systems evolve, they too become more expensive to construct. As with every water and sewer project, while they typically serve a small percentage of the total users, the entire cost of the project is spread out among all of the rate payers. I want to be careful to not single out this one project but the additional debt service obligation created by this project is driving the immediacy for rate setting action.

Additionally, the town has two(2) critical projects in the works including the O’neal Alley Sewer Lift Station and the Waste Water Treatment Plant. While these projects are in the planning stages, the board should consider preparing for the impacts now. While no one wants to raise rates, You, the board have an obligation to set the rates at a level that will  fund  water and sewer operations,  prepare for unexpected events, fund depreciation, and fund repair and replace projects. All of this, and most importantly, to provide for the public health and safety of your water and sewer customers.

I will warn you now, no matter the rate increase, the public will not be happy. The public expects the water to be there when they turn on the faucet and the waste to be gone when they flush. The process from the intake to the treatment plant and the pipes in the ground is not a concern of theirs. The public just expects it as a given. You and I know the massive responsibility that comes with operating a collections and distribution system yet the public really has limited knowledge of what all is involved to bring them the service and to maintain the infrastructure.  Boards will be hesitant to raise rates and especially in an election year, but you have to consider all factors and what is in the best interest of your water and sewer customers. The easiest thing to do is to turn your head and ignore the problems but your savings account will only last so long. You have to set your rates to not only fund current operations but to also put back in a rainy day fund.

The cost of treating water is expensive and  the cost of treating sewer is even more. Doing nothing will only impact your customers negatively in the future. One dollar of deferred maintenance  today will translate to $4-$5 in the future, so it becomes pretty apparent that the issues  you face today should be swiftly dealt with by not kicking the can down the road.

Wilson remarked that Norwood is not  alone. Much of  America’s infrastructure is  Pre World War II  as far as age.  The pipes in the ground are now having significant and more frequent failure rates, which increases the cost year after year. In fact, Norwood had an above average hit to your Enterprise fund in the recent months during the cold cycle.

In closing, Wilson remarked, “I’m not here to set the rates for Norwood, that is up to the Commissioners”. I know that you will not be able to initiate a 62% rate increase at one time but you do need to work towards a long term plan to get there. I have conducted hundreds of these rate studies including Murphy and Manteo. I appreciate you allowing NC Rural Water in your Chambers tonight and to present our findings to you.

Following the presentation, the board adopted the following rate schedule.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

TOWN OF NORWOOD TOWN COUNCIL

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Norwood Town Commissioners will hold a public hearing on Monday, April 16th, 2018 at 6 p.m. at the

Norwood Town Hall, 212 S. Main Street, Norwood, North Carolina, in reference to the proposed revisions to the Town of Norwood Zoning Map.

Persons wishing to speak for or against this matter will be heard. For your convenience, a copy of the proposed Zoning Map amendment and

related zoning ordinance is available for your inspection at the Norwood Town Hall at 212 S. Main Street. You may contact Norwood Town Hall

at 704-474-3416 or the Stanly County Planning and Zoning Department at 704-986-3665 with any questions. ZA -18-02

Mayor Pro-Tem Linda Campbell announced today that the Town of Norwood will once again sponsor the Farmers Market in the downtown open plaza area beginning each Thursday in April. Mayor Campbell has made the Farmers 

Market Agreement  form available online for those vendors who wish to participate this year.  In addition, What-A Burger has committed to bringing their famous burgers, hot dogs, & chicken as well as their world famous Witch Doctor and Cherry Lemon Sundrop to the market each Thursday. So go ahead and mark your calendars for each Thursday  from 3 pm to 7 pm through October . Come on out this year and also be prepared for a few surprise events that may be added during  the summer. Mayor Campbell remarked,  “we learned a a lot from last year and hope to keep building on this downtown event year after year. It draws families  to our downtown and we just love that.  I was very surprised at how many of our youth who participate in sports drop by after practice or games. It’s great seeing our young folks out and about in Norwood.”