Scotland Neck officials came upon the idea of a round up to help merchants with a range of improvements from minor repairs to sidewalks, façade upgrades and awnings, according to Peoples.

“The idea is fairly simple,” Peoples said. “We ask the people who are on our water to agree to round-up to the next dollar for each of their 12 bills per year. It is strictly voluntary. The funds would then be kept in a separate line item and a committee of about five or six people would oversee it.”

Tryon has approximately 2,000 water customers on its system. Peoples said he believes at least 25 percent of those customers would sign up for the round up. He said chances are likely that most bills would probably never be on an equal dollar.

“Based on a strict guess, I estimate that approximately half would be above 50 cents and half below 50 cents,” Peoples said. “If my guess is correct we could have between $200 and $300 each month to put into the account. In a year it would be hoped that more would sign up for the round up and that the account would continue to grow.”

Peoples’ idea for the committee is that it could be made up of a council member or the manager, a businessperson, a member of the Tryon Downtown Development Association, a member of the Tryon Tourism Development Authority and a citizen at large from inside the town limits and a citizen at large from the township.

The idea has not yet been discussed publicly but Peoples recently distributed his idea to town council for their thoughts.

Tryon council’s next meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.