Sandy Creek homeowners still hope for help with fee

CALLAWAY — There’s no doubt it would have been a bad deal for Sandy Creek residents if Callaway did not buy the beleaguered water system that serves the residents there, but the alternative doesn’t seem to be a great deal for residents either.

Vernon Mayhew, president of the Sandy Creek Homeowners Association, has appeared numerous times in front of the Callaway City Commission and Bay County Commission to try to find a way to reduce the impact and capital extension fees homeowners will have to pay to tie in to the city’s water and wastewater systems.

The city previously distributed information that the fees for a three-bedroom two-bathroom house would be about $7,690, but that estimate has been lowered to about $7,027.

For those unable to pay the fees upfront, the city has agreed to take out a loan and have the property owners pay over time. One approved option is monthly installments added to water bills, and at its meeting Tuesday the commission will vote on a resolution that would also allow annual payments made at the same time as property taxes.

It would make it easier for homeowners, but Mayhew said for some it still wouldn’t be easy.

“Could you imagine having to pay a $180 water bill for the next 10 years?” he asked.

During a City Commission meeting last month, commissioners agreed to contact Bay County for a joint workshop to discuss ways to address the fees, but Valerie Lovett, spokeswoman for Bay County, said no one from the city has contacted the county. City Manager Judy Whitis said she is waiting to hear from Mayor Ken Meer about the meeting.

Mayhew said he plans to go back in front of the Callaway City Commission to ask again.

“Callaway is trying to charge us the normal impact fee they would charge anyone else, but this is not a normal situation,” Mayhew said, because it’s the purchase of a water system rather than new growth and the city received financial assistance from Bay County and Sandy Creek residents to make the purchase.

Callaway agreed to purchase the Sandy Creek Utility System from parent company Utilities Inc. at the same time as Panama City Beach purchased the Bayside Utility. Both cities pledged $175,000 toward the purchase, Bay County pledged $300,000 plus the forgiveness of $219,000 in unpaid regulatory fees the company collected from customers but did not forward to the county and the $30,000 sale of a piece of property to a private citizen.

The regulatory fees are considered by some to be contributions by residents toward the purchase price.

“I think Callaway could work with us better to reduce the impact fees,” Mayhew said, recognizing that bond requirements make reduction of at least a portion of the fees unfeasible.

In addition to reducing fees or having the governments provide more funding to reduce the fees, Mayhew has asked for help obtaining grant money that could be used to lower costs, and it seems he might have more support going that route.

George Gainer, chairman of the Bay County Commission, said he can’t say the board would not provide additional funding but it’s not something the board has committed to do.

He said financially the county is “stretched pretty deep” and the intention of the board was that the funds to help offset the purchase price “was going to be our total commitment of this deal.”

As for helping obtain grant funding, he said “we’d be delighted to do it that way if anybody has any ideas on that. We’ve got the right spirit, we just don’t have the proper change.”

In the past, the Callaway City Commission has seemed hesitant to provide funding to reduce residents’ expenses without further financial support from the county.