Water supply to Eumungerie is a "one in, all in" project and all ratepayers in the village will be billed for access, whether they connect or not, Dubbo City Council has confirmed.
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The council said the access charge would be levied on all because an act of Parliament did not allow it to offer residents a choice of whether they wished to receive an available water service.
Some residents said they had already spent their own money to put down bores but others said the $4 million project planned to take town water to Eumungerie and Mogriguy for the first time would bring a number of benefits.
The council adopted a plan to supply reticulated drinking water to Dubbo's five villages in 1995 and started with Wongarbon in 2000.
Once constructed, a pipeline, reservoir and reticulation network will supply water to 120 Eumungerie residents and 25 Mogriguy residents, the only villages remaining to be serviced.
Ratepayers will then be charged an annual access fee currently set at $241 for each meter, the same as Dubbo customers pay.
The council reported it was for a period of time waiving a $5449 head works charge for existing properties at the two villages to connect.
Eumungerie district resident John MacKenzie said as far as he was concerned the scheme was "a bit late".
"Many people have already spent money on bores, you can't wait 20 years," he said.
"If we're going to be whacked on top of that, we're not going to be very happy."
Eumungerie resident Leo de Kroo, a member of the Eumungerie Progress Association who represents his village on the council's rural consultative working party, welcomed the water supply but he said he was not sure about how stormwater and sewerage would be dealt with in the future.
He said while he had his own tanks and bores, there were others in the village who relied on rainwater and the new supply would be good for them.
Mr de Kroo is one of three or four residents who at the moment volunteer to cart their own water to the cenotaph grounds.
He said he had been told by the council that when the water supply scheme arrived, its water could be used on public domain areas.
"That will save time for the volunteers and those areas are an important part of our community," he said.
Deputy mayor Ben Shields sought clarification at a council committee meeting recently, saying it seemed some residents were not happy about having to pay an access charge when they had already paid for their own infrastructure.
"I'd like to make it clear I support water for Eumungerie, but I feel for people who may have put in expensive bores," he said.
Cr Allan Smith said when water was delivered to Wongarbon, there had been a range of attitudes among residents, but in the years since he had not heard anyone say they did not want the service.
Council general manager Mark Riley told councillors the NSW Local Government Act made it clear it was "one in, all in".
Council technical services director Stewart McLeod provided the Daily Liberal with further advice about the rationale.
It was not an option under the act for residents to be offered a choice, he said.
"In this regard, council, having made the decision to supply water to residents of Eumungerie, and to residents along the pipeline route and then levy an annual charge for such service, section 501 of the act requires such annual charge to be levied 'on each parcel of rateable land for which the service is provided or proposed to be provided'," he said.
"Residents could elect not to actually connect the service to their residence, however they will still be charged the access charge on an annual basis, which is currently $241.95 per annum for a 20mm meter service."