Editor, The Smithfield Times:

The Smithfield Times edition of May 17 addressed Isle of Wight County tax increases such as the real estate (complicated to address here), meals tax and water bill. 

The meals tax has been sold as affecting mostly the tourists; in reality, county residents carry the burden. This tax is self-correcting for inflation, since as the price of meals increases, so does the tax, negatively impacting the eateries since people curtail eating out. 

An increase of 5% in the water bill continues the history of a mismanaged county utility, not to mention past incidents of water-cuts and unsafe practices. A letter in the Feb. 2, 2016, edition of this newspaper addressed at the time that the water cost was higher than that of Flint, Michigan, which at the time was dealing with its lead-pipes controversy. 

Back in June 2013, the cost of water in the county was 0.012 cents/gallon; that rose to 0.018 cents/gallon by June 2024, an increase of 50%. The average cost of water in the State of Virginia, according to the UNC Statista website in 2022, was $36.44/5,000 gallons or 0.0072/gallon/month. And according to the Environmental Finance Center as of March 25, 2024, the cost of water in Fairfax was $84.72/18,000 gallons/3 months; that comes out to 0.0047 cents/gallon. 

As is general knowledge, the controversy over the county “water deal” that purchased millions of gallons of unused water appears to persist. According to the Aug. 14 edition of the Times, the county received $1.25 million for a water tower from the federal government (our money) and other proffers for water infrastructure; should these revenues not be reflected in lower water rates? 

Apparently the county has no knowledge of the “economies of scales” that as the population and businesses increase, demand for water cost is reduced. 

 

Jose E. Hernandez

Carrollton