He said he’s not changing his mind on the decision to give a refund because the county has to build its water system. The county needs 1,000 customers before it can move forward with constructing a water plant and start using water from Lake Adger, which the county now owns as a future water source.

Polk currently has 102 water customers, including 77 who are Polk County South customers, administered by Inman-Campobell Water District (ICWD) and 25 customers that currently receive water from the county’s well system in Mill Spring.

There are a total of 177 taps installed in the county, meaning 100 residents received taps for the system but are not yet customers receiving water from ICWD.

Once the Peniel Road to Hwy. 108 waterline is constructed the Mill Spring well system customers will be customers of Polk County South as well. ICWD runs Polk County’s water system that began with a waterline that connected the Broad River Water Authority (BRWA) to ICWD through Polk County in Green Creek. Polk owns the line at no cost and is able to extend lines from that source.

Polk County Commissioner Ray Gasperson said after hearing the Meadowbrook speakers he thinks the county should take a strong look at residents’ concerns over the discount.

Gasperson voted for the $700 tap fee in June but said in retrospect commissioners should have had more discussion prior to approving it. He says there should be some restitution for people who’ve paid, especially for those who were told the $1,200 tap fee was the lowest tap fee that the county would ever see. Gasperson said no one discussed lowering the tap fees prior to the June 17 meeting with him and he failed to note during the vote that the discount also included deleting participation fees throughout the county.

“Extending it to anywhere with no participation fee,” Gasperson said, “that was the mistake that happened.”

Gasperson has placed the tap fees on the county’s Aug. 5 agenda to discuss what the county should do.