Harnett Dispatch

David Lewis and Jim Burgin Demand Meeting With Board Attorney

In the last few days something has been brewing with capacity fees for developers, capacity fees are charged to builders and developers in order for the county to provide water to the houses that are built within a development. Many developers in the western part of Harnett County have been complaining about the fees and want the county to pay for the upgrades of the main pipe that provides water to the houses. In most cases the developer or builder covers the cost of upgrades and installation of the required pipes. In recent months emails have been sent by Rep. David Lewis to county staff and former chairman Burgin about passing a resolution that would waive the fees for the builders and pass the bill on to the rate payers of public utilities here in Harnett County.

The NC General Assembly passed a bill that required counties to keep their hands out of enterprise money, enterprise money is consider money that is received from the services provided by Harnett Utilities. Money received from public utilities is based on services provided such as water, sewer. In a hasty call to Dwight Snow the county board attorney, Mr. Burgin and David Lewis demanded that they meet to talk about the capacity fees for a developer.

The problem with this situation is that capacity fees fall under the county board and they direct the operation and resolutions adopted by the majority of the board.  The board operates on the majority of the vote and no one Commissioner has any authority to pass or shoot down anything without the vote and approval of the board. In recent Months Mr. Burgin brought up this issue at a meeting and the matter was tabled by the majority of the board. Since this is a county issue and not a state issue many are asking why Mr. Lewis is so concerned with the capacity fees set forth by the county. The Harnett Dispatch requested a public records request of all emails from Rep. David Lewis and Jim Burgin in reference to county business and found that there was dialogue between Rep. Lewis and Jim Burgin about recreational fees and capacity fees that at the time had not been presented to the board. Many are wondering why these two were demanding a meeting with the board attorney about this situation and not going before the board to discuss the situation at hand. The Harnett Dispatch will continue to investigate this situation and will keep you updated with information as it comes available.