Process will be funded by grant
Robbinsville – A nearly $2 million infrastructure project will replace a sewer line on Laura Street and reduce the amount of stormwater leaking into the town’s wastewater treatment plant – without costing the town a penny.
The project is 100 percent grant-funded.
Bids will be accepted by the end of the year with work expected to begin in spring 2023.
Work is expected to take six months to complete.
Town officials were told that the improvement will reduce the amount fo stormwater that leaks into the sewer pipes, reducing the amount of water needlessly treated at the town’s wastewater treatment plant.
“It will stretch capacity,” said engineer Joel Storrow of McGill Associates, an Asheville-based engineering firm that advises the town on infrastructure projects and funding.
“You don’t need to treat stormwater.”
In other matters before the Robbinsville Board of Aldermen during its June 1 meeting:
* The town received its first payment in proceeds from beer and wine sales. Mayor Shaun Adams said the town received $969.76 in beer and wine tax revenues.
Beer and wine sales were approved by voters in November, and to date two businesses have received permits: the Ingles supermarket and the Shell convenience store on Rodney Orr Bypass.
“We received a percentage of the statewide tax revenue from beer and wine sales during the alcohol/beverage period from 4-1-21 to 3-31-22,” Adams told The Graham Star. “The state estimated that we were eligible for 150 days even though there were no businesses selling beer and wine in Robbinsville until late March.
“The way the representative from the Department of Revenue explained it to me is beer and wine alcohol tax revenue from all cities/counties across North Carolina is pooled together and then divided up between the counties/cities based on population and days eligible. So, the period we received revenue from is 4/1/21 to 3/31/22 but we only received a percentage from 150 days after the November election (even though businesses in Robbinsville were not selling alcohol until late March when Ingles got their license we still received tax revenue based on the 150 days we were eligible to sell beer and wine).
“Taxes for this year should be much more as we will be eligible for taxes the entire year. Our tax revenue is based on a percentage of state wide sales.”
* Following leads from other neighborhoods, residents on Atoah and Circle streets are asking the town to install speed humps to calm traffic on those residential streets.
Alderman Brian “Taco” Johnson said one resident on Atoah Street doesn’t want traffic humps, and aldermen agreed that Circle Street needs traffic humps.
The humps and caution signs cost the town about $1,000 per street. Residents and merchants on Ford Street were the first to ask for and receive speed humps earlier this year;
* Upon news that this year’s Fishing Derby was cancelled by the Robbinsville Tourism Authority, the board voted to take the $1,500 budgeted for the event and split it between the Graham County Cancer Society and restoration of the Old Mother Church on West Fort Hill.