Vote ‘Yes’ in the March 25 referendum

Pageland citizens will vote March 25 on an issue which will determine whether our town will grow or die. Your vote will also affect how much your sewer bill will cost you for many years to come.
A “Yes” vote on the referendum question is the only way to ensure that Pageland will have adequate sewer capacity for future growth and the creation of new jobs. It is also the only way to guarantee that your sewer rates will stay as low as possible.
Constructing a pipeline from the North Carolina state line to Alligator Rural Water & Sewer Company’s new sewer treatment facility in McBee will be very expensive. But, it is far less expensive than upgrading both of Pageland’s existing sewer plants to provide the additional capacity needed for future growth. A study made by the Town Sewer Committee indicates that the cost of sewer services for all customers would double if the Town were to upgrade both of its existing plants.
The Town can save money by shutting down its two plants and those savings will help pay for construction of the pipeline. Also, by partnering with Chesterfield County Rural Water Co. and Alligator, and possibly the Towns of Jefferson and McBee, the pipeline project will be eligible for state and federal grants that Pageland would be unable to get on its own. It is estimated that grant funds will pay for at least half of the pipeline costs.
Construction of the pipeline would provide sewer service along the entire length of the Hwy. 601/151 bypass through Pageland. This would open up large new areas for commercial development, which will add to the Town’s tax base.
Speaking of taxes, a proposed 775 acre housing development, which the developer is willing to have annexed into the town limits, would add at least $500,000 a year to the Town’s tax base. However, that development won’t be built unless the Town follows through on the sewer pipeline project.
We also won’t be welcoming any new industries to the Pageland area until the Town increases its sewer capacity. The Pageland Chamber of Commerce and the Chesterfield County Economic Development Board are among the groups backing the pipeline project. As we all know, industries provide most of the jobs which are the life’s blood of any community.
While it is true that most new industries are likely to locate outside the town limits and therefore won’t pay Town taxes, these new industries will pay the Town for sewer service. The Town charges a higher rate for out-of-town customers, including industries, than for in-town customers.
The Town has the opportunity to help two industries which are in town, Conbraco and Pageland Screen Printers, by going with the pipeline project. These two industries will have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade their wastewater pretreatment systems in order to comply with tougher new state regulations in 2009. However, the industries won’t have to spend that money if the Town goes with the pipeline project. That is because Alligator’s treatment system is land based rather than discharging directly into a stream.
The land based treatment option is better for the environment, according to State regulators with the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). Removing the Town’s wastewater discharge from the Lynches River will improve water quality. That is an important consideration for the Carolina Heel Splitter Mussel, which is an endangered species.
In order to protect water quality for this clam, the State is unlikely to issue a permit for the Town to increase its wastewater discharge to the Lynches River. That means the Town can’t increase the size of its existing sewer plants, leaving the pipeline project as the only option.
While the wording of the resolution voters will be asked to approve on March 25 would give the Town the authority to contract with “a third party” to provide sewer service, the only “party” interested in building a pipeline to Pageland is Chesterfield County Rural Water Co.
Pagelanders approved the switch to buying our drinking water from Rural Water in a referendum vote five years ago. Since that time we have had good quality drinking water at a fair price. Voters should keep that in mind when they go to the polls on March 25 to vote on the sewer referendum.


Brian Hough serves on Pageland Town Council and is the former editor of The Progressive Journal.