The Water District Board of Vance County. It’s what many call “county-wide water.”
Actually, there is Phase 1, Phase 2 and Kittrell with a total of 1,794 customers committed to the system and 1,387 as functioning, metered customers.
The latest available data, which was used for the Vance County Commissioners meeting on August 2nd, indicates in round figures the Vance County Water District will cash flow about $1 million in accounts receivable in 2021. It was about a half million in the first six months.
Cash flow is good and profitability is about here.
County Manager Jordan McMillen told WIZS News by email, “The county water system is nearing its breakeven point ahead of schedule. A few years ago we put together a projection that anticipated breaking even by July of 2024. We are ahead of that schedule and almost had the system break even in FY19-20 (July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020.) – within $20,000 of breaking even. We just finished up FY 20-21 and although we had more unexpected costs (line breaks, tap installs, etc.) were hopeful the system can get to the breakeven point in the next year or more.
“As we are bringing the original system and original debt to break-even we are getting ready for construction of the next phase which will start the process over of trying to break-even again with the new debt.”
McMillen has been working this project from the start, not just the project’s start but his start with Vance County.
Considering McMillen’s obvious work ethic and positive reviews by other county employees in a recent Vance County workplace survey from the Local Government Workplaces Initiative and UNC School of Government, many hearing McMillen’s name beside the project will in fact project some of its successes on to him.
McMillen wrote in a separate, follow up email, “Right before I came on board with the county in 2008 I attended a county informational meeting before anything began with financing the project or construction. I still keep the notecard I made from that meeting in my briefcase reminding me of the pros and cons people were saying about the system at that time.
“The success of the water system and bringing it to self-sufficiency has been one of my largest personal goals with the county. While it is challenging to take on a new phase and see us start over, it is good to see the impact that the water system has for those citizens needing it.”
