Upgrade or build a new wasterwater system?

ASHEBORO — Do you buy a brand-new model or stick with the old clunker? Pay the sticker price or keep the mechanics busy?

That’s kind of the dilemma facing the Asheboro City Council, which met Oct. 29 in a special meeting to talk about the city’s aging water and wastewater systems. The discussion was led by Michael Rhoney, water resources director, Debbie Reaves, finance officer, and Naya Jameson of the firm Waterworth, which specializes in municipal water and wastewater system financing.

Rhoney gave the Council a lengthy list of needs, color-coded according to must-do projects, a new wastewater plant, and costs that go away with a new plant.

According to estimates, the cost to upgrade the wastewater system comes to some $83.5 million. A new plant would eliminate about $32 million in costs to upgrade but would, in itself, cost about $80 million.

Council member Kelly Heath asked how long a new wastewater system would last. Rhoney said that much of the current system goes back to the 1960s. Reaves said some of the water lines were laid in the 1930s with another large expansion in the ‘50s.

Jameson went over financial scenarios over a period of 15 years for both maintaining the current systems and building anew. Those scenarios also addressed revenues, including water and sewer rate increases over those years.

In the words of Reaves, “This is very complicated.”

It was brought up that a regional wastewater system in the Piedmont Triad is being seriously considered. So, should Asheboro wait several years and become a part of that? To that, Walker Moffitt, mayor pro tem, said, “Once we start our plant, we are the region.”

But the big question was how to pay for the upgrades. Mayor David Smith said, “The problem is exacerbated by the current economic growth. We need help from the state and federal (governments).” By economic growth, Smith was referring to the thousands of jobs being created by Toyota Battery, Wolfspeed and Ross Stores, and the expected population growth in the county. That means Asheboro will need to expand its capacities of water and wastewater.

Reaves said she and Rhoney will be working on the rate structures for water and wastewater usage. She said the city had gotten behind in its water rate increases for different reasons but “now we have to do something. We have to figure out how to pay for (the upgrades). What are the rate increases going to look like?” She said other nearby cities are charging by the meter size, with residential users paying less than businesses.

Bill McCaskill said the Council “need(s) to know about the regional first and is the county going to be involved?” But Joey Trogdon responded, saying a regional system would take five to 10 years and the city has to treat its wastewater in the meantime. “The issue isn’t going away.”

City Manager John Ogburn noted that “there are a lot of moving parts in water and wastewater. There are a lot of regional talks about one regional plant.” As for the cost of an Asheboro system, he asked, “Do we borrow? Do we have a bond referendum?”

With no solutions to the problem, Reaves said another workshop would be scheduled, probably in January.