| County water service in The Acreage would mean a lot of money for Royal Palm Beach |
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PalmBeachPost.com County water service in The Acreage would mean a lot of money for Royal Palm Beach By Jason Schultz Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Monday, March 15, 2010 A new water war may be looming between two communities in western Palm Beach County. Residents of The Acreage will likely decide in the next year if they want county drinking water piped to their homes. And if they do, it could mean a lot of money flowing to the neighboring Village of Royal Palm Beach — without the village having to do a thing. Under a previous deal with the county, Royal Palm Beach stands to make more than $250,000 a year if all of the estimated 10,000 homes in The Acreage community hook up to county utility lines. Acreage residents would have to pay a 10 percent surcharge to Royal Palm Beach on their water bills. Indian Trail Improvement District board member Mike Erickson takes offense to that part of the deal, which was made between the village and the county in 2004 so the county could lay water lines to serve the Mecca Farms area. "They have no legal claim to that money, in my opinion," Erickson said. "I intend on getting that franchise fee undone." Village officials say no dice. "This is real money and obviously it will be protected," said Assistant Village Manager Ray Liggins. Liggins said the village has a strong claim to the surcharge money. It dates back to the early part of the last decade, in which several governments, including West Palm Beach, Royal Palm Beach, the county and Indian Trail, argued over who had the right to sell water to whom in the western part of the county. Royal Palm Beach had held the rights to serve water and sewer to The Acreage and other nearby unincorporated areas since a 1986 agreement in which the county gave up those rights. But by 2004, huge proposed developments were expected to come to the region, such as the unsuccessful proposal to put a Scripps Research Institute campus on Mecca Farms. "Huge development pressures created a real demand to serve that area," Liggins said. The county approached Royal Palm Beach to buy back the Acreage water rights in 2004,and the village drove a hard bargain, said Royal Palm Beach Mayor-elect Matty Mattioli. In exchange for getting to lay 52 miles of water lines to serve Mecca Farms, the county took over sewage treatment services for village residents and included a 10 percent surcharge on the bill for Acreage residents. "They wanted it. We said, 'This is what we want for it'. And the county agreed," Mattioli said. Liggins said the contract was between the village and the county, and Indian Trail had no role in the contract. He said the 10 percent surcharge is essentially the "cost" the county paid to the village to buy the rights to serve water in The Acreage. Two years later, the county bought out the village's water utility entirely for $70 million. It now serves county drinking water to village residents. But the surcharge is still paid to the village because of the 2004 agreement. According to Royal Palm Beach officials, 126 customers in The Acreage, including homes and businesses, are already connected to the existing 52 miles of county water lines in the area and paying the surcharge. So far the village has received about $170,000 from the surcharges those customers pay. Now the county's water service in The Acreage could be poised to expand dramatically because of the state's declaration of a cancer cluster in the community. The community now relies on thousands of private drinking water wells, which some residents consider a potential source of contamination despite the state's declaration that the ground water quality is "generally good." If all of the estimated 10,000 homes in The Acreage were to pay the monthly fees and buy 7,000 gallons of water per month, which is what the county utility estimates the average house would use, the village would collect more than $250,000 per year in surcharge revenue. Deputy County Utility Director Brian Shields said the surcharge does not apply to assessments for construction cost, but it does apply to the $3,000 connection fee residents would pay to hook up to county water. The connection fees can be paid in installments over 20 years, and that surcharge could bring in roughly another $3 million to the village over time. Indian Trail and the county had their own water wars in court during the last decade after Indian Trail tried to challenge the county's right to lay water lines to serve Mecca Farms. That eventually resulted in an agreement in which Indian Trail recognized the county's right to serve water to Acreage homes. But Erickson said a clause in that settlement says it can not be used as justification of the 10 percent surcharge paid to Royal Palm Beach. Erickson said that when the Indian Trail board meets on Thursday, he plans to ask the district's attorneys to explore how to go about challenging the surcharge in court and get it invalidated. The county is giving a presentation to the Indian Trail board at Thursday's meeting about the prospect of running county water lines to all Acreage homes, although residents would still have to approve such a plan. Mattioli said he's been expecting a challenge to the surcharge for a while and is not worried. "Let him challenge it," Mattioli said, referring to Erickson. "My position is that it is a contract that was signed by two people. If he (Erickson) doesn't like it, too bad." Find this article at: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/county-water-service-in-the-acreage-would-mean-363075.html |
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