Weighing the impact of new customers to the system

Effective January 1, the Oconee Joint Regional Sewer Authority will follow a formal policy that lays out a policy of impact fees.  From the vantage point of JRSA board chairman, Brian Ramey of Westminster, it’s a measure to financially protect the system at a time of non-stop development, especially in the Seneca area.  Parallel to the policy is a $4 dollar a gallon increase in the impact fee as it applies to new industrial customers.  That’s a big concern to Jamie Gilbert, the industry recruiter for the Oconee Economic Alliance.  At the start of yesterday’s meeting, Gilbert cautioned the commissioners that the increase might not sit well with the potential for a large economic development project under consideration for the county’s empty Golden Corner Commerce Park.  The project and its potential to attract as many as one thousand jobs to the Fair Play area, for now, are code-named Project “Wash.”  Commissioner Scott Moulder of Seneca said he wants time to allow the JRSA’s finance and administration committee to be able to further evaluate impact fee numbers as studied by an outside JRSA consultant firm.