WINNSBORO, S.C. — Winnsboro is gearing up to expand its utilities to cater to a growing population.
As a full-service utility provider, the town of Winnsboro aims to extend its services beyond its current boundaries, including Ridgeway. One of the first proposals they'll consider is expanding its natural gas lines toward that town.
"The gas line is really part of the revitalization of Winnsboro and Fairfield County frankly," said Jason Taylor, Winnsboro Town Manager. "We have an excess capacity of gas that we have access to, and we have that access capacity because we used to have a lot more industry here that used gas and as that industry went away we lost those gas customers."
However, some coming developments, including the construction of the Scout vehicles plant in nearby northern Richland County, will require a change in strategy.
"Now we have the opportunity to expand those with potential growth coming from Scout Industries and we've had requests from the Town of Ridgeway," Taylor said.
It's something some business owners said they welcome.
"If we had natural gas, we'd definitely use it for heat and other sources like that, but we don't even have that option," said Bryan Murphy, owner of Bryan's Tire & Automotive along Highway 32 in Ridgeway. "I think any infrastructure coming into Fairfield County or Ridgeway or whatever is good for the county as long as it's being paid for the right way and it's not costing any extra money anywhere else, as a burden on the public to pay for it."
Taylor revealed that the natural gas line project, which will cost $180,000, will be financed using funds allocated in the utility expansion budget.
"It's an expensive investment for us, but we hope that within the next five or six years at least get a return on that," he said.
In addition to the natural gas line expansion, Winnsboro is also focused on enhancing other utility services.
"We received grant money and will be expanding our water plant, adding another two million in capacity based on a grant we received from the state," Taylor said "That's about a $14 million project, with $10 million of it financed from the state. We are also looking to expand our sewer plant to add another half a million gallons of capacity to it."
Council approval has been granted to proceed with the natural gas line expansion project, although details regarding the route and installation timeline are yet to be finalized.