FARMVILLE – If Prince Edward County constructs a water system, and raises taxes to pay for the project, not all Town of Farmville officials will be cheering.

“…I don't know how they're proposing to pay for it,” Town Manager Gerald Spates said during Town Council's February work session, “but they've come up talking about real estate tax. If it's tax, we're going to be taxed for it too. I think the question was why are we paying for another water system when we already have a water system.”

The reaction to a possible County tax hike among council members who spoke was not enthusiastic.

“Not good,” commented Ward D council member Donald L. Hunter after Spates had said, “I would imagine…that all the taxpayers are going to pay for it (a County water system), including us in town.”

“I would be paying for that water?” asked Ward B council member Sally Thompson

“Absolutely,” replied Jim Wilck, who was attending the public work session and encouraged to speak by Town officials. Wilck represents a portion of Farmville on the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors.

“Everybody would,” added Spates, regarding residents in the town and county.

“It's not just you,” Wilck told Ms. Thompson, regarding town residents, in that scenario, paying for two water systems. “I live in town too.”

Spates had introduced the subject, which was not on Town Council's agenda, saying that council members Hunter and vice-mayor Armstead D. Reid, had asked him that morning about the County's plans for a water system (see page one story).

“There's a lot of ifs,” said vice-mayor Reid. “That's what's got me.”

Ward A council member Dr. Edward I. Gordon raised questions of his own, though acknowledging “we don't know what's really happening…

“…There's still a lot of ifs but I would be concerned if we offer water and sewer and then we're not getting anything out of this water and sewer that they're doing,” Dr. Gordon said, “but yet our citizens are being taxed again.”

Dr. Gordon, on Town Council's budget committee, noted that a continuing thread throughout this year's Town budget discussions is the awareness that Farmville and its residents live in Prince Edward, paying Prince Edward County taxes in addition to Town taxes.

“…Here we go getting taxed twice for the same thing,” Dr. Gordon said, “and in this case…it's right in our face but it's still an 'if' so I think it's premature for me to say too much but I definitely have some thoughts on it, obviously. We need to wait and see what happens.”

Hunter asked Spates how far into the future the Town's water supply would last and was told “for years into the future.”

If you take a look at Farmville's water supply, the town manager said, “we use about 1.1 or 1.2 million gallons a day on average, and water use has gone down. You don't have a lot of big water users. Everybody's conserving water now. You take a look at Longwood, what they've done. They've gone to drilling wells to irrigate fields…Of course I don't know how that affects groundwater. I'm sure in the long-run it could. The river's a very reliable source of water. And it's good water…

“What we're looking at with Wilck's Lake and the Buffalo Creek interceptor line and being able to have another (watershed) drainage area, I think that's going to take care of us for years into the future,” Spates said.

“I keep hearing people saying that our water system's not reliable…I don't think the river, since 2002 and we made it through 2002 fine; we did some things to protect ourselves and we've got Mottley Lake, which is a tremendous asset. I'm not saying rule out the pipeline (from the Sandy River Reservoir),” Spates said, “because you've got to look at the cost, but it would be nice to have a back-up…but you've got to consider the treatment process involved…”