A court has rejected a Greene County supervisor’s petition to place a referendum on November’s election ballot which would have given voters a say in how the county will pay for a long-debated, multimillion-dollar reservoir.
Greene Circuit Court Judge David Barredo denied Supervisor Francis McGuigan’s petition last month.
“I initiated a petition to shield all residents from the real estate tax increases necessary to pay for water and sewer infrastructure,” McGuigan told the judge in a letter to the court dated July 16.
The petition advocated using money from the county’s general fund, rather than an increase in real estate taxes, to pay for the debt Greene would incur because of the reservoir construction. The proposed White Run Reservoir, an $87 million project slated for the northern corner of the county, has been in various stages of planning and development since 2008.
“Over the past two decades, Greene County’s Board of Supervisors raised real estate taxes rather than raise connection fees on new residential development to pay for water and sewer infrastructure. These real estate tax increases disproportionately affect low-income and fixed-income residents,” McGuigan wrote to the judge.
But neither a real estate tax hike nor a pull from the general fund will be necessary to build the reservoir, according to county records.
“The system should be self-supporting, and growth should pay for itself. In summary, the financial plan is based on conservative estimates, fairness [to residents] and balanced revenues versus expenditures,” Tom Hutka, director of water and sewer for the county, informed the county Board of Supervisors on Oct. 8, 2024. He has repeated this in subsequent meetings since then.
Prior to tapping into the county’s general fund or raising real estate taxes to cover the debt, Hutka said that “a team of highly experienced industry professionals” would monitor the financial supports for the water and sewer system.
In addition to cash reserves and continuous oversight of expenditures and revenue, the county could also refinance debt in the coming years or decide to sell, lease or borrow against excess county-owned water and sewer infrastructure, according to Hutka.
“As a final resort, the water and sewer fund could borrow from other county funds,” said Hutka.
McGuigan’s petition also sought to raise water and sewer connection fees, known as equivalent dwelling units, or EDUs, on newly constructed residences to at least $18,000 each.
“The only reasonable way to fund these projects is to raise the Equivalent Dwelling Unit fees,” the petition reads.
In February, McGuigan used social media to push this agenda.
“EDUs need to be raised in accordance with verifiable population estimates and not unrealistic promises by developers of new housing starts,” McGuigan posted Feb. 20 on Facebook, where he goes by the name the “Greene Sentinel.”
Greene County already has some of the highest EDU rates in Virginia. Current costs for new developments tapping into county pipes total $12,000 per housing unit for water and $10,000 for sewer.
In nearby Orange and Madison counties, the Rapidan Service Authority — formerly a tri-county water and sewer authority Greene County pulled out of in 2023 — charges $10,000 each.
According to McGuigan, two-thirds of Greene County residents use well water and private septic systems. The petition, filed with the court clerk in April, cited a provision in the Virginia Code stipulating “only users of the Water and Sewer system should pay for the service.”
Comparing “connections” to “residents” is key to understanding the number of public water and sewer users, according to Hutka.
“There are about 3,500 connections to public water and sewer in the county,” Hutka told The Daily Progress.
Hutka said that a connection could be a single-family residence, a business or a multihousing complex of up to 20 units.
McGuigan did not reply to a Daily Progress inquiry regarding his claim that “two-thirds of residents” use private wells.
McGuigan was criticized during a Board of Supervisors meeting in early July for approaching Greene residents in parking lots throughout the county seeking signatures for the petition. McGuigan gathered a little more than 1,600 signatures before presenting the proposal to the judge.
According to McGuigan’s letter to the judge, “A petition to place this referendum on the November 4th ballot should not be necessary.” His own petition for a referendum on November’s ballot is “necessary” because the board took on the debt and bonds without the approval of county residents. “Referenda for taking significant debt by counties in Virginia are regular and appropriate,” McGuigan’s petition reads.
Barredo’s explanation for his decision to deny McGuigan’s request for a referendum was not available at the courthouse when The Daily Progress visited.
“Considering the magnitude of the proposed debt for the water and sewer projects, Greene County residents should be permitted to determine the methods of meeting debt service,” according to McGuigan’s petition.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com