Deadline looms for Everett Springs meters
County officials say the discount price won’t be available after the contractor orders project materials.
Property owners in the Everett Springs area have through Monday to get a water meter at $293.50 — just the cost of materials.
It’s a steep discount of more than $1,300 off the regular price, made possible as a part of a $5.8 million water line extension funded through the 2013 SPLOST. Work is slated to get under way before the end of the year.
Floyd County Utilities Manager Steve Hulsey said 160 of the estimated 300 to 400 eligible people have paid to have meters included in the final project map. The contractor could start ordering materials for the job as early as next week.
“Everybody’s waiting for the last minute,” Hulsey told members of the county water committee. “But the contractor has to know what he’s dealing with.”
The line will start around White Road and run north up Everett Springs Road to the Chattahoochee National Forest. Hulsey said they’ve added Grant, Salley and Gazelle Dew roads to the project.
“Several people have bought meters for undeveloped lots,” Hulsey said. “And I had one lady say she couldn’t wait and got a well, but she’s getting a meter for her children.”
Buying a meter doesn’t obligate a landowner to water service — it ensures the contractor will lay a line to the box. The meter can then be installed any time in the future without major work.
“Once you’ve laid the line, covered it and moved on, that’s when you have to excavate (to add service),” County Manager Jamie McCord said.
Residents in the area were experiencing increasing contamination of their wells when they asked for the project to be included in the special purpose, local option sales tax package.
“We’ll go to Monday (for the sign-ups), then we’ll handle it on a caseby-case basis,” McCord said. “There’s no guarantee they won’t have to pay the full $1,600, though.”