Bedford County to offer discount on water line connections

For the first time in its nearly 40-year history, the Bedford County Public Service Authority will offer a discount for connecting to existing water lines.

“We’re hoping people take us up on it,” said Director Brian Key.

The authority plans to send more than 400 notification letters in upcoming weeks to residents and businesses currently not connected to existing lines within 100 feet.

The letters outline the benefits of the public water system and offer $500 off new connection fees through February 2010. Key said the letters pertain to water lines only — the authority also provides sewer service to more than 1,000 customers.

Connection fees to public water for residents to range from $1,000 to $1,200, depending on meter size, according to the authority’s Web site.

“Times are hard,” Key said. “We’re trying to ease their burden and make it easier to connect if they want to. The second thing is, we need the connections.”

Key said the letters are primarily for “the far-reaching rural areas where we have expanded our lines but don’t have many connections.” They could potentially persuade residents with wells who are “on the fence” about connecting, he said.

Residents and businesses within 100 feet of existing lines that don’t receive a letter from the authority also would be eligible for the temporary discount, he said.

The authority provides just more than 1 million feet of water lines and water service to more than 8,000 customers in Forest, Boonsboro, New London, Stewartsville and areas at Smith Mountain Lake and just outside the city of Bedford.

Since its inception in 1972, the authority has relied on growth to pay annual operating expenses — a practice that Key said it is striving to move away from.

Revenues from new connections fell from $900,000 several years ago to a current projection of $250,000 he said. The drop was due to the economy and a slowdown of residential growth, he said.

The authority’s seven-member governing board approved sending the letters with discounts Tuesday.

“I don’t think we’re going to get a lot of connections as a result of this,” said Thomas Segroves, a member who opposed the measure, adding it could set a “dangerous precedent.”

“There’s a world of new customers out there,” said Roy E. Dooley Jr., a member who recommended it. “If we could get them hooked up, our revenues could soar.”