By Miles Layton

EDENTON — Chowan County residents could see their water bills climb from around $14 to $22 a month under a proposed rate increase headed to a public hearing later this month, one of three hearings the Board of Commissioners scheduled Tuesday alongside a lighter agenda that included a tax-relief resolution, a veterans’ services report and the recognition of two 911 dispatchers.

County Manager Kevin Howard told the board the proposed increase — the first since 2017 — is tied to a state loan-forgiveness program the county is pursuing to help pay for aging water lines that must be replaced before a new reverse-osmosis treatment plant comes online.

To qualify for the maximum 75 percent loan forgiveness, the county needs to set its water rate at $10.80 per 1,000 gallons; staff are recommending $11 for ease of billing. Howard estimated the full project loan at roughly $13.9 million, with annual payments near $934,000.

“This is for replacing worn lines” throughout the county’s distribution system, Howard told the board, not new fire hydrants, which the county plans to keep replacing as needed using existing fund balance.

Board Clerk Susanne Stallings noted that sample water bills at the proposed $11 rate, along with the current rate, have been posted online alongside the public hearing notice so residents can see how the change would affect their own bills. “It’s always good to have it right in front of you,” Vice Chairman Larry McLaughlin, who chaired Tuesday’s meeting, told her, thanking her for putting the examples together.

A second hearing will address a proposed increase to the monthly solid waste fee, from $18 to $21, which staff said is needed after the county dipped into fund balance for the service for the first time in years. A third hearing will cover updates to the county’s land use ordinances, consolidating them into a unified development ordinance — a process staff paused earlier this year after the General Assembly made changes affecting local planning law.

All three hearings are set for 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, at the regular Board of Commissioners meeting.

Per the story’s photo — Chief Deputy John McArthur of the Chowan County Sheriff’s Office speaks at Tuesday’s county commission meeting, flanked by 911 Director Herman Weiss and Assistant 911 Director Carrie Thrasher, who were recognized for earning associate degrees in 911 Communications and Operations.

Speaking of McArthur, earlier in Tuesday’s meeting, Chief Deputy McArthur of the Chowan County Sheriff’s Office called 911 Director Herman Weiss and Assistant 911 Director Carrie Thrasher to the front of the room to recognize them for earning associate degrees in 911 Communications and Operations while working full time in the county’s emergency communications center.

“To pursue and complete a rigorous academic degree program while simultaneously maintaining continuous service on shift demonstrates an extraordinary level of personal discipline, resilience, and commitment to excellence,” McArthur told the board, speaking on behalf of Sheriff Scooter Bassnight.

Thrasher graduated first; Weiss is set to finish his coursework in December. McArthur said their partnership is a big reason the dispatch center is fully staffed with trained telecommunicators, and credited them with pushing to make it “the best in North Carolina and beyond.”

Weiss then took the podium himself, saying he hadn’t expected the recognition, to present Thrasher with a certificate of achievement.

“I was like, you know what? I want to go ahead and do this,” Weiss said. He said Thrasher signed on to pursue the degree alongside him and finished first. “I just wanted to give her that certificate of achievement in front of y’all,” he said.

Commissioner Ellis Lawrence thanked both dispatchers directly. “You had to make a sacrifice to earn what you did, and we want you to know that we appreciate it,” he said.

The board then approved its consent agenda without discussion before moving to a resolution backing Senate Bill 2025-349, a measure that would raise the income ceiling for property tax relief available to elderly and disabled homeowners and would eliminate — rather than simply defer — taxes above the state’s “circuit breaker” cap.

Tax Administrator Chris Hill walked the board through the numbers. Under current law, a married couple’s combined income cannot exceed $39,900 to qualify for the elderly homestead exclusion — a threshold Hill said shuts out many seniors living on Social Security alone. The bill would raise that ceiling by 15 percent, to roughly $45,000.

“This extends that another 15 percent,” Hill said, adding that the North Carolina Association of Assessing Officers is asking all 100 counties to pass similar resolutions before the bill reaches the governor’s desk.

Not everyone on the board was satisfied that the bill goes far enough. Commissioner Tony Shaffer argued the new income cap still leaves many seniors and disabled residents just above the cutoff.

“Income above up to about fifty thousand dollars is not a lot,” Shaffer said, adding that the change still amounts to “shortshooting the seniors and the disabled.” Hill acknowledged the limits of the legislation. “There is not another bill on the floor right now that addresses this,” he said, adding that his association isn’t necessarily defending the bill as fair — only asking that counties support it as better than nothing.

The board ultimately unanimously approved the resolution.

Wayne Bray, the county’s Veterans Services Officer, then delivered his annual report, describing a caseload that keeps growing. Over the past year, Bray said his office worked with 659 people, up from the year before, and filed 116 initial disability claims, 76 supplemental claims and a number of high-level reviews for claims that had been denied more than once.

Bray’s office also handled seven burial-benefit cases, 21 property-tax exemptions for veterans rated 100 percent disabled, 35 disabled-veteran license plates, four VA home loans, 44 records requests and 68 “intent to file” filings, among dozens of other services. He said his staff fielded 886 phone calls over the year and, combining health care and disability claims, brought roughly $13.45 million in VA money back into Chowan County. Statewide, he said, the VA spent about $13 billion in North Carolina last year.

“The pat on the back, the thank yous are worth a million dollars,” Bray told the board. “They really are, and I do appreciate y’all.”

Commissioner Lawrence said Bray had personally helped him navigate a claim for his 91-year-old brother, a Korean War veteran. Shaffer described visiting Bray’s office anonymously, comparing it to a “secret shopper” experience, after his own dealings with the VA over a dental issue had stalled for months.

“In minutes, minutes, he had resolved an issue that had been dogging me for better part of a year,” Shaffer said. “You are a miracle worker.”

Bray cautioned that not every case moves quickly — he mentioned one Chowan County veteran whose claim, filed in 1980, wasn’t resolved until shortly before the man died. “One month after he got the money, he passed away,” Bray said. “That’s the worst thing in the world that can happen.”

Commissioners went on to appoint Stephanie Stacey to the Tourism Development Authority board, filling a seat reserved for someone active in promoting travel and tourism in the county.