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Waynesville suspends water disconnections BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER ollowing the lead of several other municipalities, corporations and coops, the Town of Waynesville has temporarily suspended billing-related water and electric shutoffs for its residential customers in response to the Coronavirus Pandemic. “As everybody knows, we’re up against it,” said Alderman Jon Feichter during a town board meeting March 24. “One of the things I’ve seen that companies are doing, for example Duke Energy, my natural gas provider PSNC energy — and I’m sure that there are others — until the economic dust settles on this pandemic, these companies have decided that they are not going to disconnect any of their customers for non-payment.” Feichter said he’d explored available options with Town Manager Rob Hites and Finance Director Ben Turnmire and came up with a proposal for Waynesville to follow suit. “If there is one thing that worries me more than the thought of catching the coronavirus it’s the damage this is doing to the pocketbooks of our citizens,” Feichter said. The concerns voiced by Feichter go handin-hand with recommendations by the
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that people wash their hands thoroughly and frequently to help limit the spread of coronavirus. Turnmire said that offering such assistance could have a 3 to 5 percent negative impact on the town’s water fund every month the policy remained in effect. He also cautioned that his analysis doesn’t account for the loss of revenue from commercial accounts that aren’t currently using water — like restaurants. The town’s water fund is an enterprise fund and thus is separate from the general fund. Revenue flows in and expenditures flow out, and the water fund has its own fund balance to cover shortfalls or unexpected expenses. Currently, it’s at more than $2.2 million. If the water fund incurs a 4 percent loss of revenue each month because of the suspension of disconnections, that would be about $91,200 in lost revenue the fund balance would have to cover each month. The town’s electric fund is similar in that it’s an enterprise fund separate from the general fund and operates much the same way as the water fund. A March 20 memo from
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Turnmire to aldermen estimated the electric fund’s monthly revenue loss at 2 to 4 percent. The electric fund’s fund balance at the time of the 2019 audit was $3.2 million. If the electric fund incurs a 3 percent loss of revenue each month, that would amount to roughly $24,800 in lost revenue that would need to be covered by the electric fund’s fund balance each month.
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But, it’s not really lost revenue — state law prohibits waiving fees or bills, so customers who can’t or won’t pay their bills during the grace period would still have to pay them eventually. Essentially, the water and electric funds are each borrowing from their respective “rainy day” funds with expectations of paying themselves back once the crisis is over.
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Waynesville aldermen addressed a mostly-empty room on March 24. Cory Vaillancourt photo
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