In North Carolina’s Pender County, more than 1,500 residents who paid upfront in the 1990s for future water access still have no service, and county commissioners are considering whether to refund them.
The dispute in Pender County centers on public trust, infrastructure, and what communities are owed when government commitments go unfulfilled, according to WECT.
What’s happening?
Residents in still-unserved parts of the county paid fees in the 1990s to hold future water hookups, and commissioners are now weighing possible reimbursement plans — if refunds are issued at all.
Those payments were taken with the expectation that customers could connect after water infrastructure was built, yet the county still has not provided a timetable for when service will reach those areas…