CALHOUN FALLS — In the beleaguered Upstate town that's in its fourth year without a budget and has just $171.68 left in its general fund, oppressive residential water bills that sometimes stretched into the tens of thousands of dollars was at the heart of a meeting that almost didn't happen.
Outgoing Calhoun Falls Mayor Terrico Holland was absent. So was Mayor Pro Tem Wane Postell, whose failed bid for mayor this cycle instead of a reelection campaign means he's out of a seat come January.
Instead, the body's most senior member, Sam Hill, who's also out the door in January, led the at times contentious Nov. 26 council meeting in the town that's about 60 miles south of Greenville.
While most items were tabled — everything from a planned discussion on tiny homes to a long look at how the community of roughly 1,700 people can grow — in Holland's absence, the three present members talked at length about Calhoun Falls' ongoing water woes.
Much of the town's dire utility situation isn't new.
Between leaks in the system hemorrhaging unknown quantities of water and long-term tracking problems making it unclear how much water a swath of homes used, millions of gallons of unbilled water have passed through the municipal system in recent years. This was well detailed in a blistering state-funded audit that also uncovered thousands in waste and spurred a State Law Enforcement Division probe.
Beyond that, Calhoun Falls' water provider, the city of Abbeville, is suing it over hundreds of thousands in unpaid bills that piled up as town leaders opted not to raise water rates in years despite Abbeville's increases.
A discussion of rates was on the agenda, but the conversation quickly veered into residents getting water bills for thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.
Councilmember and Mayor-elect Viggo Lassen said among those exorbitant charges he heard from constituents was one that topped $66,000. An attendee showed The Post and Courier a photo of the bill, which had been shared on social media.
Lassen blamed the hefty bills on Councilmember Lasean Tutt, who's filling in without pay until the utility department is properly staffed following a string of resignations.
"There's been changes that's been done that hasn't gone through anybody other than you making changes, and we're having problems with our system in here now," he said.
The end result, Lassen said, is that Tutt is sending out bills "telling them they owe this extravagant amount."
She insisted that wasn't possible.
"That system generates what those numbers are, not me," Tutt said. "I don't have the capacity to do that."
Instead, Tutt said past water consumption wasn't properly inputted for some customers — sometimes dating back 20 years or more — which means entering the correct numbers sometimes generates massive bills.
Stephanie McElrath, the town's acting clerk/treasurer, said problems affect roughly 200 meters.
How to address it isn't clear. Much of this is water use that should have been properly recorded and billed for earlier, but town attorney Juankell Shingles said there's a statute of limitations on how far back they can bill.
Whatever the town does will have to go through council, Shingles said. The body took no action on the matter.
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