LETTER: Asks leaders to consider all factors in sewer services

Since it appears that it’s going beyond the preliminary stages, I feel that as a landowner and taxpayer, there are some factors that haven’t been discussed that should be brought out at this juncture.

First, prior to my retirement to this beautiful county in 1993, my business and professional career included six years of ownership, management and operation of several private utility companies that provided water, sewer and LP gas service to 25,000 customers, both residential and commercial, in several counties throughout the state of Florida. So I do have experience in the design, operation and maintenance of water and sewer systems.

It is apparent that the “powers that be” have decided to scale back the idea of countywide system and are now concentrating on industrial/commercial corridor systems. Should this effort continue, I’d like to point out that there are ways to minimize the massive construction and operational costs that the county would incur.

Some of the ways to realize these reductions are to require that the industrial/commercial entity involved design the on-site and off-site facilities and submit the design to the county and state for approval and permits.

The entity would then construct the facilities at their expense in accordance with county and state standards and upon construction completion, the entity would deed over to the county the off-site facilities for future operation and maintenance, with the on-site facilities remaining the property of the industrial/commercial entity for future operation and maintenance, making them responsible for pumping stations, line cloggings, electric expenses, etc.

The cost of the sewage treatment plant could be somewhat offset by the entity paying a one-time charge or a yearly fee or connection charge calculated on the gallon capacity of their facility, as it would relate to the available plant capacity. This could be based on the designed residential equivalents of the gallons of sewage to be treated. The monthly sewage charge would be calculated by determining operational costs to treat the residential equivalents of the commercial/industrial entity.

These are just some of the options available to eliminate or offset construction and ongoing operational costs. There are other methods that can be utilized, depending on the circumstances involved.

The intent of this letter is not meant to denigrate any of the individuals or boards involved in the preliminary fact-finding process. I commend each of them for their hard work and dedication in representing the county.

I felt it was necessary to provide additional, legitimate options that have been tried and tested in the past in the hope that our ad valorem taxes and IDA taxes would not increase over the years while the industrial/commercial entities sit back and get a “free pass.”

I wrote this letter to you, Zach, with the hope that the people involved in the decision making process will read it and at least consider some, if not all, of the factors expressed above. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Carl A. Kelley

Danielsville