Lexington offers to buy Carolina Water System plant, but for less than utility wants

Lexington town officials are offering to buy an embattled Carolina Water Service sewer plant for nearly $1.6 million, less than the private utility wants.

The offer was made this week after a study last fall said the company’s equipment is in bad shape and needs $9.5 million in immediate upgrades to stop sewage spills from polluting the Lower Saluda River. The plant mainly serves customers in the Oak Grove area.

“We are willing to pay what it’s worth to stop spills into the river,” town Mayor Steve MacDougall said Thursday. “We’re not going to pay what they ask.”

Utility officials will consider the offer, company spokesman Robert Yanity said. But the company believes both sides should ask a court to determine “fair market value” instead of negotiating further, he said.

An initial town offer of $1.3 million was rejected in May, Yanity said. That offer was based on “a rough estimate,” MacDougall said.

“Both have been going back and forth over this for a number of years,” Congaree Riverkeeper Bill Stangler said. “Going to court may be the way to settle on the value.”

The town takeover would be paid through bills assessed on homes and businesses in the Oak Grove area to pay for the acquisition and improvements, Town Administrator Britt Poole said.

That promises higher bills for homeowners there.

Currently, the typical monthly sewer bill for out-of-town residents is $67.17, Poole said. Homeowners now pay $57.58 monthly to the utility regardless of usage, according to the state Office of Regulatory Services.

The town’s new offer is based on a study by consultant NewGen Strategies and Solutions, hired to determine the worth a network that includes 151,000 feet of sewer lines and a plant serving 28 neighborhoods and Oak Grove Elementary School.

Carolina Water officials valued a pair of plants serving 3,300 customers in two areas near the town at $13 million in court filings in 2015.

Lexington is seeking to acquire only the plant serving 2,000 customers in the Oak Grove area and then hook it up to a regional sewer network across central Lexington County with up-to-date disposal.

Carolina Water Service has never set an asking price for that plant alone, Yanity said.

The utility faces a $1.5 million federal fine, with a judge giving it until April 1 to stop releases from the plant into a river popular for fishing, paddling and other outdoor recreation.

State environmental officials have cited the company often for pollution discharges and have ordered Carolina Water to connect to public sewers.

Connecting the utility’s customers would increase those served by Lexington from nearly 17,000 to nearly 19,000, officials said.

This story was originally published September 21, 2017 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Lexington offers to buy Carolina Water System plant, but for less than utility wants."