The Lake Waccamaw Town Board of Commissioners met Friday morning for a brief meeting to clear up questions about the spending of the $2.5 million the town was allocated by the state budget.
Earlier this year, Rep. Brenden Jones asked all local governments to submit a “wish list” is additional funding came available in the new state budget. Columbus County received more than $50 million in funding, with $2.5 million each going to Chadbourn, Whiteville, Fair Bluff, Tabor City and Lake Waccamaw.
The lake apparently did not file a request with Jones. However, $2.5 million was set aside for Lake Waccamaw.
Eddie Madden, Columbus County Manager, sent email to Lake Waccamaw Town Manager Damien Kempski Thursday morning stating that the funds were not “earmarked” for the county, but were listed as a “state grant in aid to the Town of Lake Waccamaw.”
Madden explained in the email that he did not submit a request to the state for Lake Waccamaw or any other town. The county did, however, submit three transportation requests. Two were approved, including one for a bicycle pedestrian path near Lake Waccamaw.
“To be clear,” Madden said in the email, “the county did not submit the funding request for the $2.5 million on your behalf; we submitted it for a county project since the entire project is outside the city limits.”
Jones contacted the county after the “wish list” request and asked Madden to submit all transportation projects in need of funding, Madden said in the email.
“We submitted three projects: 1) A roadway project in the county’s industrial park, 2) a roadway project at the Columbus County Airport, and finally 3) the bike/ped project near Lake Waccamaw. Two of the three requests were approved including the county’s bike/ped project.”
When the budget was approved, Madden said, the final version “did not specifically earmark the funds that the county lobbied for as the county’s project.
Madden wrote. “Due to the error in the line item, the Town of Lake Waccamaw could possibly use the funding at its discretion. Let me remind you, however, that it was intended to be used for the county’s bike/ped project.”
Chairman of the Columbus County Jobs Foundation Les High requested that the grant be turned over to the organization for improvements of the existing trails at the Lake Waccamaw State Park. The town is already working with the Friends of the Lake Waccamaw State Park on a bike and pedestrian plan that will potentially improve paths throughout the area.
The board voted unanimously to put the funds toward the improvement of the sewer infrastructure that has been greatly compromised since Hurricane Florence in 2018. Residents in the area saw an increase in water and sewer rates last year as the town worked to battle some of the issues while still recovering from the natural disaster.
“We are accepting the state budget as it was passed,” said Mayor Daniel Hilburn. “The board of commissioners are being good stewards of the taxpayer’s money while also protecting the lake’s natural resources. We are practicing responsible spending.”
The board also voted to refund the Friends of the Lake Waccamaw $750 of the $1,500 the organization donated last month to bike and pedestrian plan. In 2019, the plan was rejected and the group did not request the funds back from the town at that time.
“It was only fair to give them that money back since the project was not approved in 2019,” said Hilburn.
The Lake Waccamaw Town Council will have their regular meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 14 at 6 p.m. New Mayor Matt Wilson, Commissioner Theresa McKeithan, and Commissioner Frank Carroll will be sworn in at that session.
