Water tower receives federal funding
Published 6:49 pm Monday, August 12, 2024
From left, holding a ceremonial check for $1.2 million in federal funding, are Isle of Wight County Supervisor Don Rosie, U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., Supervisor William McCarty, County Administrator Randy Keaton, and former Supervisor Dick Grice, holding an illustration of the planned tower. (Photos by Stephen Faleski | The Smithfield Times)
Marissa Wolf of Riverside construction contractor Brasfield & Gorrie and U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., don hard hats and vests ahead of a tour of the hospital.
Isle of Wight County received a ceremonial check for $1.2 million on Aug. 12 for a water tower to be erected adjacent to Riverside Smithfield Hospital.
The federal funding is earmarked in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law on March 9. The original version of the bill passed the House of Representatives 219-211 over opposition by 209 Democrats and two Republicans. U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., who cast one of the supporting votes, attended the check ceremony.
According to County Administrator Randy Keaton, the federal funding will be combined with $1.6 million proffered by East West Communities, the developer of the adjacent 776-home Benn’s Grant subdivision, and another $1.6 million from water and sewer tap fees the county has collected from Benn’s Grant, for $4.7 million in total. The tower will provide increased water pressure to the 50-bed hospital slated to open in 2026 and to the surrounding community via a water line that runs parallel with Benns Church Boulevard from Smithfield High School to the Isle of Wight-Suffolk line.
Plans for the water tower have been in the works for roughly 20 years, Keaton said. The tower is expected to be complete by next summer.
Isle of Wight County Supervisor William McCarty said the federal funding is roughly equivalent to 2 cents on the county’s real estate tax rate per $100 in assessed value.
Kiggans said she learned of Isle of Wight’s need for funding when county officials submitted the project as a request to Congress. She praised the project as an example of how federal tax dollars are invested back into communities.
Taxpayers “need to be able to see what their tax dollars are going to,” she said.
Following the check presentation, Kiggans and county officials donned hard hats and safety vests for a tour of the roughly 200,000-square-foot hospital, which broke ground last fall.
Keaton said the county plans to solicit construction bids for the tower in September and will likely break ground by October or November. The tower is expected to be completed by next summer, he said.
Editor’s note: This version corrects a misspelling of Brasfield & Gorrie.
