To the Editor:
For several weeks I’ve been following the discussion about the possibility of the Town of Tryon selling its water and sewer system, and in particular, some of the comments offered by the mayor and a couple of the council members.
The prevailing defense of the status quo seems to revolve around some nebulous benefit of having the water and sewer system in the hands of people who sleep in this county.  It’s as if there is something magic about water and sewer services, or that somehow local residents can be more effective and efficient than outsiders.
I should give council member Roy Miller some credit, however. He has noted that Tryon water rates are among the highest in the state though I expect in making that observation Mr. Miller is not even considering the exorbitant rates paid by those water customers like myself who live outside Tryon’s town limits.
Outsiders control our electric services, our road repairs, our phone, cable TV and Internet services and on and on. This is just my opinion, grant you, but the water service is about the only reason for Tryon to even have a town government, and perhaps that’s the real issue here.
By owning the water system, the town government has a reason to exist… and a reason to have a bunch of people on the town (read that taxpayers) payroll. If the water system were sold, people might start wondering what they are getting for their property taxes.
As for the continued existence of the Town of Tryon, that question should generate as much discussion as does the possible sale of the water system. Frankly, in my view, there is no real reason for the Town of Tryon to exist as a separate corporate entity.
Police services could and should be merged into a county-wide law enforcement agency, thus saving everyone some money and likely not diminishing the quality of the services.   What that means is that if water and sewer were to become private and if the county were to form a county-wide law enforcement agency, the town government might as well mail its charter back to the state government. The town government would have nothing left to do.
The residents of an unincorporated  “Village of Tryon” would be free of most local property taxes and free from ever-increasing water and sewer rate increases as the town’s utility service chases the holy grail of break-even.
Some folks may think I make this proposal in jest but actually, I’m dead serious. In fact, if one considers that less than 15 percent of eligible Tryon voters put the current mayor and council into office last year, you might get the impression that the vast majority of Tryon residents have already declared the town government to be irrelevant.
True, I do not live in the town limits (yet) but I am affected by the punitive and ever-increasing water rates and live under the threat that someday the town will annex me and force me to pay taxes for… what? … law enforcement services that I already have, water service that I would still pay for and what else?
See my point?
As noted, I do not live in the town but I do have Tryon water and thus feel I have the right to at least offer my opinion on the proposal from Ni-America.
It’s entirely possible that the town should not sell the water and sewer systems but the reasons ought to be much more tangible than the most prevalent argument…. that we want to keep control of the water system in local hands.
– Ted Hiley, Tryon