2 weeks Ago
FLORENCE — Are Florence County water customers getting a fair shake from the city of Florence? That’s the question some community members and elected officials are asking as the city battles issues with its water system. At an October County Council meeting, community members and Florence County Council members sharply criticized the city for being slow to respond to issues among county residents — residents, they argued, who aren’t properly represented by the City Council. “We aren't represented by the city as it relates to water and aren't represented by the county anymore, so that's pretty much the conundrum that we find ourselves in,” resident James Williams said.
“We share your frustration. I promise you,” said County Council Chair William Schofield, who later said he thinks the city has made progress. While more than half of the city’s water customers live in the county, those customers pay almost double the rate and can’t vote for City Council members who are responsible for the system.
“I think you oughta take the city of Florence on some type of litigation until they decide to do something,” Councilman Willard Dorriety told concerned community members. City officials acknowledge there have been issues with the water system , and they’ve committed tens of millions of dollars to fixing them. But they dismissed the idea that county residents are being treated any differently than city residents.
Lethonia “Peaches” Barnes , who will take office as Florence’s new mayor this month, said the city strives to serve all of its customers equally. She asked for patience and understanding and promised the city would be transparent as it works through the issues. “I think that some of the rhetoric would dial back once people know.
When people don't know what's behind the closed doors, they speculate,” she said. County Council has little say over water issues. That wasn’t always the case, though.
In the early 2000s, the county sold its own system to the city — a decision elected officials now question. “I would have voted no personally, because I thought it was a bad idea,” Dorriety said. “But the bottom line is, the city of Florence has got a tremendous problem that's not going to be solved overnight.
” The city of Florence’s water system spans some 700 miles and serves more than 32,000 people. Roughly 53 percent of those people live in the county, according to the city. Williams, a county resident who said he uses city water, said he and his neighbors’ water is regularly discolored.
Many more people report similar issues across Florence. But because Williams lives in the county, he can't vote for City Council members and can’t necessarily influence their decisions, he said. “Water is our greatest need.
We got people drinking rusty, dirty, nasty water. We've tried to bring that to the city and they don't seem to understand that they represent us,” he said. Florence is spending $270 million on water and sewer upgrades.
It will only get more expensive. Interim City Manager Scotty Davis said he understands county customers' concerns. The city is committed to serving them, though — regardless of if they can vote in the city or not, he said.
“They are our customers," Barnes said. "And by all means, we want them to be pleased with our services, just as our city people. We don't see a difference.
" While the city is responsible for serving a wide swath of Florence County, it doesn’t serve everyone. The city is selective when choosing where to build water and sewer lines. Davis said potential projects have to pass a feasibility test.
If the city can recoup its costs within 20 years, it will generally build the water or sewer line. If it can't, it generally won't. The city applies the test to make sure the system doesn't overextend itself, Davis said.
There’s no question that county residents pay a premium to use the city’s water. Most Florence water customers use around 5,000 gallons of water each month, Davis said. At 5,000 gallons, users within the city pay about $29 monthly.
Users outside of the city pay about $45. According to an informal survey of other South Carolina water systems, the difference in rates is not unusual. In fact, Florence County's difference is lower than several other water systems in the state.
But that difference is set to grow in the coming years. In 2023, the City Council voted to raise county rates at a rate 2 percentage points higher than for city residents. From 2025 to 2029, city residents will see increases of around 9 percent and county residents will see increases of around 11 percent.
Barnes said the decision was made because the cost of the improvements is greater in the county than in the city. “That's why there's a price difference. It's not that we're saying, ‘OK, you're in the county, so we want to charge you more.
’ It's just we've got to look at what it costs,” she said. South Carolina spent millions on Florence’s battery plant. Is it really worth the cost? In general, rates are higher in the county because it’s more expensive to serve county customers.
There are fewer residents in the county and they're further from distribution points, Davis said. If county residents are unhappy with their water, they can choose to get it elsewhere, Davis pointed out. City residents are required to use city water.
By law, the city generally can’t use water and sewer revenue to supplement other parts of its budget, Davis said. The city can transfer a small amount — limited by the state — to its general fund for things like the salaries of people who work on the water system. In the recent budget, the city transferred $4.
4 million. Some elected officials are questioning Florence County’s decision to sell its water system to the city more than two decades ago. Davis said it wasn’t the city’s idea to take over the county system.
According to a 2001 letter sent to the city from the county, the county asked the city to consolidate the two systems. At the time, the county’s water system needed repairs, Davis said. When Buc-ee's arrived, so did development.
This rural SC county is grappling with the growth. There are a number of issues that have led to the city’s water problems. But the fact that the system is cobbled together from nine separate utilities is a significant one, Davis said.
While that’s not unusual, it makes managing the system “extremely complicated,” he said. Things like deferred maintenance, dead-end lines, over capacity pipes, among others, contribute to problems the city is battling. “I think we've done the best way it can be done.
I don't think there's a good way to bring in new systems,” Davis said. But the city has a responsibility, Davis said, to supply water to the region if needed. In a statement, Schofield expressed some optimism that the city and county could work together.
Water infrastructure, he noted, is an essential part of plans to grow the county and the region. “The county’s goal is simply to ensure that the voices of all residents — both city and county — are part of the conservation as these improvements are planned,” he said..
