New council member also sworn in
Fontana Dam – One Graham County township has taken a step to ease the economic burden brought onto its residents by the coronavirus pandemic.
During the March 18 Town of Fontana Dam meeting, the council unanimously approved a policy to defer water payments for all customers. The deferrals start immediately and for anyone who has already made a payment, a credit will be applied to their next bill.
Those with an outstanding balance will still have an amount due when the deferral period ends. At this time, the town will judge when to end the deferrals on a monthly basis.
Other news and notes from the meeting include:
* Tiffany Duke was sworn in as the newest council member. Duke replaces Tracy Williams, who resigned from the council last month.
* The ongoing payoff agreement between the town and Fontana Village Resort will understandably be paused as a result of the loss of business brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Town Administrator Zelerie Rogers said the resort has paid off $44,000 of the $95,000 owed before the payment plan went into affect.
“It’s essentially a wait-and-see situation. We’re not going to press them for anything,” Mayor Rob Hardy said.
* The town’s recent audit was distributed to council members. Turner & Co. in Murphy conducted the audit, and Rogers added that the town received a clean report.
* Rogers recommended that the council put a freeze on all spending for the foreseeable future, saying optimism could give way to reality.
“We can have high hopes that in two weeks, things are showing improvement and we can go back to business as usual,” Rogers said. “Realistically, I just don’t see that happening.
“It’s going to affect our summer. We’re tourism; it’s going to put a hurting on this area.”