Members of the Jay council discussed the town’s current policy regarding commercial water tap fees, if any, at its Monday, May 20 meeting, siting the tap that was recently made for a new warehouse in Jay for Golden Cotton Gin.
Jay Water Superintendent Alicia Jernigan supervised the gin's tapping of a 6-inch line into the town's 8-inch line.
Seib said they could go with the commercial price of a 6-inch line, if that is what they decided.
“We didn't charge anything for them to tap into our 8-inch line,” said Owens. “What's ended up happening is they paid a contractor to tap into our lines, so now they have our water access, an 8-inch line, and we didn't charge anything for them to tap into our line, so therefore, how do we charge for that service?”
Jay attorney Steve Cozart said he thought they did have a tap fee, but that he would research to find out and if not, it is a matter of the Jay Council determining the cost.
Owens mentioned a fire suppression system and how to monitor the amount of water that passes through, although there is no meter to determine the amount, if used.
Seib said they made sure the tap was done correctly at the new building but that the town could go back and assess a fee, if that is the direction the council wanted to go in.
Councilman Wayne Godwin said the gin has several buildings that tapped into Jay's water system but there was discussion that they had been done so long ago it would be difficult to find out any tap fees charged.
Jernigan said the larger taps should always be overseen by the utilities and Owens suggested an hourly fee plus the cost to tap might be a way to address the lack of tap fees in the future. She also mentioned impact fees coonnected with water taps, stating that an impact fee can sometimes be in place to help with any future maintenance or modification of water taps.
Mayor Owens said even though he is not in favor of impact fees, this might be a situation where having an impact fee in place might be beneficial to both parties involved.
“It may be a project we can talk about,” said Owens.
