Oconee residents say $25M to pay for sewer lines is unconstitutional (2024)

WALHALLA— The South Carolina Public Interest Foundation has joined several Oconee County residents to stop the county from using taxpayer dollars to bring sewer lines to the southern part of the county.

The lawsuit claims the $25 million bond Oconee County approved in November 2023 for wastewater improvements violates the state Constitution and that its repayment uses money from taxpayers who wouldn’t benefit from the projects.

Oconee County has denied several of the claims and asked for a dismissal of the lawsuit, calling it invalid in the answer filed with the court.

In the suit, attorney Jim Carpenter said this matter is “of great public importance” because of what he alleged are unconstitutional acts by the council and “misuse of taxpayer money.”

“We are suing to try to make the county fathers follow the Constitution,” Carpenter told The Post and Courier. “They’ve got the money in hand. The question is what can they legally spend the money on? They can spend it on a lot of things, but what they can’t spend it on is a sewer system that only benefits one portion of the county.”

Article 10 of the state Constitution prohibits issuing “bonded indebtedness” for sewage disposal or treatment or any other service that benefits “only a particular geographical section of the county.”

During the bond’s public hearing in September 2023, the completion of Sewer South — a yearslong project to bring infrastructure through the rural farmlands of Fair Play and eventually to Interstate 85— was mentioned as the wastewater project.

Previous phases of Sewer South were completed with state and federal grants and appropriations from general county funds, according to the lawsuit.

Where would Sewer South go and who could use it?

When County Councilman Julian Davis asked at the public hearing about some of the language giving the council the right to amend the project description, County Attorney David Root invited their bond councilor, Michael Kozlarek, to provide clarity.

Kozlarek said it was typical language to allow flexibility ahead of securing the funds if the full request wasn't funded, not to change the nature of the projects entirely.

“Council’s discussion on the $25 million bond has been mostly in executive session,” Davis said at the September meeting. “I just want to clear up some things. Only having one person come up and talk about the bonding, it’s clear that the general public does not know what this is going to pertain to and what this is.”

The one person who spoke at the public hearing asked for clarification on where and how the money would be spent, calling it a “$25 million slush fund.”

The bond ordinance mentions “various capital projects” that were not made clear during the public hearing. No specific allocation amounts or projects were mentioned during the public hearing.

Two months after the bond funds were secured, Root announced he was leaving the Oconee County position he had held since 2015.

He is now a partner at King Kozlarek Root, the firm that the city of Clemson hired as its attorney in December 2023.

Root told The Post and Courier he received no money from the bond transaction and decided the time was right to return to private practice with an attorney who had an established and complementary firm.

When seven county residents filed the lawsuit in March 2024, two of them had solidified their candidacy for County Council. Living in District 2 and District 4, India Lancaster and Gwen McPhail, respectively, represent some of the rural areas their attorney said won’t benefit from the sewer project.

Carpenter anticipates an argument over economic development in the southern portion of the county along I-85, where land is relatively flat and open— making it ideal for both farming and development.

Fair Play is home to the Golden Corner Commerce Park, a plot of land the county purchased in 2005. A few businesses have promoted southern Oconee County and its quick access to Atlanta and Charlotte via I-85, yet the 260-acre park sits empty.

A presentation from the Oconee Joint Regional Sewer Authority shows what route a sewer line would likely take to reach Exit 2 of the interstate before running to the pump station at the state welcome center on Lake Hartwell.

The line along the interstate, and much of it along S.C. Highway 59 headed north from Fair Play, is a pressurized forced main. The sewer authority’s regulations prevent direct connections on forced mains, meaning it couldn’t be tapped for connections.

Regardless of how the line was to be built or operated, Carpenter maintained the interpretation of the state Constitution is in their favor.

“They’ve got to be able to use the sewer system," he said. "That’s the nature of the provision."

A hearing on the motion to dismiss was originally set for June 13 has been postponed as of June 12, according to the clerk of court's office.