Council Also Reduces Residential Utility Deposits
WINNSBORO – Winnsboro Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to accept the lowest of 12 bids to replace water lines in the Palmetto Ave. area of Forest Hills neighborhood.
Of the 12 bids, McMahan Brothers Pipeline, Inc.’s bid of $377,693 was the lowest.
“They’ll be replacing some of the old galvanized cast iron pipe in this area of Forest Hills where they’ve had historically low water pressure and brown water,” Town Manager Don Woods told council members.”
The project was financed by a SC Rural Infrastructure grant for the same amount as the lowest bid – $377,693. The Town government is obligated to provide 20 percent matching funds.
Wood said he wasn’t sure when work on the project would begin, but he thought possibly in a couple of months.
The bids ranged from a low of $377,693 submitted by McMahan to $674,485.90 submitted by RNF Construction, LLC. The lowest three bids above McMahan Brothers Pipeline were: G. H. Smith Construction, Inc. (400,480); Lake Murray Utility Co., Inc. ($408,925) and North Industrial Machine, LLC (410,175).
Council votes to lower utility deposits
In another unanimous vote, council passed the first of two readings to amend an ordinance passed in January of last year that had increased the deposit on utilities for residential service from $150 to $300. However the ordinance was not put into effect until October, 2020.
Wood and Finance Director Kathy Belton suggested council change the deposit back to $150 for residential customers.
“This is what we talked about last meeting,” Mayor Roger Gaddy said. “We need to lower those utility rates to help with some of our senior citizens so they don’t have to pay so much for that, especially in the senior village.”
