'Ocean Pines ratepayers protected'

No doubt you have noticed the many trenching vehicles and workers installing new lines to bring Comcast service to our community. When this work is finished, we will for the first time have a choice of cable providers. This added competition is expected to bring savings to our residents. This is good.

What some people may not realize is the process required to install these lines and the assistance of County personnel necessary to complete the task. You are aware that utilities in Ocean Pines are underground. As a result, it is necessary to locate where the underground utilities are so that installation of new lines doesn’t interfere with what already exists. In the case of County water and sewer lines, Comcast must contact our Water/Wastewater department to request an employee locate and mark pipe locations.

The County responds quickly to these requests. Unfortunately, early on in the installation process, trenching crews either did not understand the process, did not wait for lines to be marked or ignored markings. As a result, there were multiple disruptions to water and sewer service because Comcast subcontractors cut or drilled through lines, knocking out service, sometimes for hours.

You may have experienced this. I did. When these breaks occurred, County Water/Wastewater crews have been redirected to make repairs, resulting in overtime and other unbudgeted expenses to the Ocean Pines Service Area. Additionally, scheduled work was delayed.

The Ocean Pines Water/Wastewater Service Area is an Enterprise Fund which means its budget and operations are funded by all of us within the service area who pay quarterly. In short, funding for this and other service areas do not come out of the County’s General Fund (tax revenue). Rather, ratepayers (you and me) must pay the bills. The costs for these Comcast-related re- pairs were not budgeted, much less expected. All of us ratepayers in the Ocean Pines service area would have to foot the bill for these cuts and disruptions. This was an intolerable situation.

Working with Comcast, the County developed a plan of action to recoup all the expenses attributed to repairing cuts and breaks as well as the “locates” (the marking of where the underground lines are). As a result of the County’s efforts and Comcast’s desire to be a good neighbor, the latest figures available show that Comcast has been billed $206,000 of which they have paid $175,438. Moving forward, the County has arranged to bill and Comcast has agreed to pay expenses related to breaks and locates. The result? Ocean Pines ratepayers are protected.