"Our concern is that Lilesville, Morven and Wadesboro are metered," she said. "Then we found out that Peachland and Polkton are not."
Whitlock said that when she first brought the issue to the county commissioners in 2008, she found that if Lilesville had been billed in the same way as Peachland and Polkton in that timeframe, it could've saved the town more than $35,000. When she came back two years later and checked again, that figure increased to a $50,000 savings.
"We were just asking the county why can't we billed the same," she explained. "It's nothing against Peachland or Polkton at all."
Whitlock appeared before the commissioners at their regular monthly meeting last Tuesday night and again at a special meeting with commissioners and representatives from the involved towns on Friday morning.
At the meeting, Whitlock said, the commissioners and town representatives agreed to create a task force to determine a way to resolve the billing issues. However, simply installing meters for Peachland and Polkton won't be a simple— or cheap— task.
"The main thing is that these meters are expensive," said Peachland Mayor Richard Allen. "I don't think the taxpayers in the towns of Peachland and Polkton should be responsible for the cost."
Allen added that the meters cost about $20,000 a piece. County Manager Vance Gulledge estimated the total cost of installing the meters at $100,000.
"I think there's more important things that we should be dealing with," Allen said. "The problem is really how we're billed for sewer, and how the other towns like Lilesville are billed."
He said he's hopeful that the task force, which he volunteered for, will be able to come up with a viable solution.
Both Allen and Polkton town clerk/manager Libby Cameron pointed out that the reason their towns are not metered is because their sewer systems are newer than those of the other towns.
"We have so many situations that are not cut and dried," Cameron said. "We have town lines that run into county lines, and county lines that run into town lines. One meter's not going to catch everything."
She added that Polkton would probably need a lot of the costly meters in order to be billed the same as Lilesville and Morven. "What would you do if it's where the county line runs into the town lines?" she asked. "Would that person then be charged twice?"
In Morven, members of the town council were hopeful that the resolution of the billing issues could benefit their town.
Councilman Theodore Carr attended the Friday morning meeting with Mayor Carolyn Solomon. Carr informed the council during a special meeting Thursday night about the issue.
"Chances are, [the billing] will be changed," he said. "Chances are [Peachland and Polkton] will be paying a larger share."
Morven Mayor Pro Tem Susan Woodburn said it had been brought to her attention by Lilesville's town clerk over a month ago. Mayor Carolyn Solomon said she did not know about it, then questioned the other council members, who all said they knew nothing about it.
"The reason I did not say anything to the council was, the information was being collected, to be presented with Lilesville's, but I was not made aware of when it would ever be presented to the county commissioners," Woodburn explained.
"In the future," Councilwoman Marjorie Cole said, "if something like this comes up, I would be like to be informed. To be left out of something this important is ludicrous."
Morven resident Hattie Johnson said that she lives alone and her "sewer bill is outrageous."
"I live by myself and I have to pay $60.18 a month," she added. "I can't keep up."
The council members assured Johnson that they felt Morven would be getting a break on its sewer billing, due to this issue.
Whitlock said that she is also hopeful that the issue will be resolved soon. "The initial investment [in new meters] will be costly," she admitted, "but it will benefit everyone in the long run. I would like for all of us to be billed in the same way. They did promise that they would work on it."
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