Based upon a master plan for the water plan for the water system and rate study formulated by the City's engineering consultant, it was determined that the population of the City of West Columbia's water service area will grow by 43 percent this decade, from 46,408 in 1988 to 66,294 in the year 2000. This type of growth increased demand for water and sewer service. To address this growth, in February 1989, the City began construction of a water treatment facility using the Lake Murray reservoir as the raw water source., This initial construction phase provided a treatment capacity of six million gallons of water per day. The treatment plant is designed to allow expansion to forty-eight million gallons per day. The initial construction at the raw water pump station provides an intake capacity of forty-eight million gallons per day. finished water is delivered to the distribution system through a 36-inch and 24-inch transmission main tying the treatment plant to West Columbia's Laurel Road standpipe. Construction was complete as of July 1, 1991, as was the hiring and training of qualified personnel to operate the facility. Due to increased water demands, the City initiated three new major expansion projects of its water system.
In 1997, the City expanded its Lake Murray Water Treatment Plant form an initial six million gallons per day (GPD) capacity to nine million GPD. The City funded this project entirely without outside financing.
The City of West Columbia is located in Lexington County, one of the most rapidly expanding counties in the nation. This rapid expansion prompted the City and the nearby Town of Lexington to enter into a water sale and purchase agreement on December 18, 1997, in which the Town of Lexington agreed to purchase all of its requirements for water from the City of West Columbia up to a maximum capacity of 4.5 million GPD. Under the terms of the agreement, the City agreed to finance and oversee the construction of the necessary water lines and any needed expansion to the Lake Murray facility in order to provide water capacity to the Town of Lexington. The Town of Lexington agreed to pay the City of West Columbia all costs associated with the design, construction and financing of the same. Upon payment of all such costs, the water lines will be conveyed to the Town of Lexington.
In order to construct the water lines and related improvements, the City was able to obtain financing through the South Carolina Infrastructure Revolving Loan Fund (SIRF). The SIRF fund is a state created, funded and administered revolving loan fund for the construction of water and sewer facilities. On October 1, 1998, the City issued $4,780,000 in Water and Sewer System Improvement Revenue Bonds, Series 1998B, of which the proceeds were used to fund the expansion of its Lake Murray Water Treatment Facility.
Construction on the water line project began in June 1998 and was completed by May 1999. With this project's completion, the Town of Lexington has significantly increased its service area and thereby its customer base, which in turn has increased the City of West Columbia's wholesale water revenues.
The construction phase of the expansion of the Lake Murray Water Treatment Facility began in November 1998 and was completed in October 1999. With the completion of the expansion project, the Lake Murray Water Treatment Facility now has the capacity to provide 13.5 million GPD. This expansion of the Lake Murray Water Treatment Facility to 13.5 million GPD, coupled with the City's initail existing water treatment facility located on the Saluda River, which has a capacity of 7 million GPD, now gives the City the capacity to provide a total of 19.5 million GPD for its retail and wholesale customers, making the City the largest regional provider of water in Lexington. |
In 1997, the cities of West Columbia and Cayce jointly applied for and received an EDA mini-technical assistance grant to help fund the preparation of redevelopment plans for the two cities. The purpose of the plans is to define tentatively identified blighted/conservations areas within each municipality, to develop comprehensive plans for redevelopment and to identify sources of funds for implementation of selected public improvements within the "Redevelopment Areas." One of the objectives of the West Columbia plan is to enable the city to establish a Tax Increment Financing District (TIF) under which incremental tax increases resulting from private investment will be used to finance needed public improvements.
Under the South Carolina Tax Increment Financing Law, a local government can identify an area not exceeding five percent of its total land area as a redevelopment area for the purpose of tax increment financing. The area covered by the City of West Columbia's Redevelopment Plan consists of approximately 145 acres near the western bank of the Congaree River. It includes a part of the Three Rivers Greenway, a area extending along portions of both banks of the Saluda, Broad and Congaree Rivers in Lexington and Richland Counties. Redevelopment of the plan area is expected to result in the elimination of blight and creation of jobs through the attraction of private investment.
Cost of public improvements in this area will be financed through tax increment financing, which does not create new taxes, but reallocated property tax revenues. Normally, property tax revenues are divided among various tax entities. Under the provisions of the tax increment financing law, the taxes generated by current property values in this area are still divided among the entities. Any additional property taxes generated through growth or redevelopment are placed in a special fund to finance public improvements in the redevelopment area. New tax revenues generated in this area will be used to fund projects addressing specific needs in this area for the next 15 years. |
