Fueled by an anticipated $17.2 Million in revenue for FY 2026-27, the Laurens County Water & Sewer Commission anticipates in the coming year to perform an extensive study of Lake Rabon.
Owned and operated by LCWSC, with its adjoining park, Lake Rabon is the primary water source for the City of Laurens. Also, it is an important feeder to Lake Greenwood, where most of the water that LCWSC sells to its 18,000+ water customers comes from. The proposal was unveiled to the LCWSC Board at its Tuesday morning meeting, where the new proposed budget received final approval.
The full board spent about 3 hours in budget review and operations reports, pared down from the 6 hours that the board’s Finance Committee took to example the budget document line-by-line.
The budget shows $17,225,875 in revenue and $12,995,866 in expenditures. Water rates will increase slightly in keeping with the commission’s 5-year rate plan; the LCWSC operations budget receives no property tax millage.
“All revenue listed is provided through water and sewer volume fees, and other miscellaneous user fees. All excess revenue is applied toward capital expenses or capital reserves, including but not limited to debt service,” LCWSC said in a Notice of Public Hearing advertisement.
The expenses fund 54 full-time employees, up 4 from the current workforce. In addition to the money from fees, LCWSC receives money from government grants and line extensions/impact fees - $24.6M over the past 3 years in grants, and $21.7M over the same period in contributed capital from homeowners, industries and developers ($20.3M of that is in the form of developer-donated water and sewer lines). In 2026, LCWSC installed 871 new water taps and 551 new sewer taps.
A full listing of future projects will be provided to the board in July or August, said Jeff Field, LCWSC executive director.
The Lake Rabon examination will be a “safe yield” study - examining how much water can be taken from the lake without adverse effects. The RFQ (request for quotes) will be targeted to specialized water-quality study firms.
Considerations will include drought, sediment, and a large water user coming into the Hunter Industrial Park, Hwy 221N, Laurens (near I-385).
Also, money is being set aside for trails upgrading, with a Kids & Parks partnership, playground renovations, transitioning from wood to longer-lasting metal some of the picnic shelters, and restrooms’ renovation. The Lake Rabon Park has its own dedicated boat launch, and is the site of the annual SC Department of Natural Resources kids’ fishing rodeo, as well as other community events. Shelters are available for rent for private events.
For LCWSC, water distribution is the largest portion of the budget at $15 Million. A 2.5% rate hike is budgeted for, expected to cost the average consumer $1.16/month more, in the 4th year of the 5-year water rates plan - 18,050 customers are budgeted for, with an expectation that could go as high next year as 18,450 with new water taps.
Most subdivisions planned during the past 5 years in Laurens County are at or nearing build-out, the LCWSC Board has been told. So the number of new taps to be installed may slow down.
With that in mind, the commission is looking to the sewer side for potential expansion — and that affects Clinton.
More capital expense has been dedicated to areas around Clinton on the wastewater side. This year, that emphasis has been on Miller’s Creek - next year, it shifts to Beard’s Fork. LCWSC expects to be able to increase to 1 Million gallons/per day its wastewater capacity around the City of Clinton.
“If that growth builds out,” Field said, “it will be helpful for the overall wastewater revenue.”
LCWSC operates a wastewater treatment plant on the Bush River between Joanna and the Newberry County line, east of Clinton. LCWSC operates a water treatment plant on Lake Greenwood (near Camp Fellowship), and has a capacity-buying agreement with the Greenville Water System to supply customers in fast-growing Northern Laurens County (Gray Court - Owings - south Fountain Inn - I-35 toward Simpsonville). LCWSC owns the water system of the Town of Gray Court, home of the massive ZF Transmissions plant.
In contrast to the $17.2M revenue and $12.9M expenses in the next budget, LCWSC’s budgeted figures for 2025-26 were $15,833,852 revenue and $11,659,782 expenditures. The June 23 commission board meeting served as a legally-required public hearing for the 2026-27 budget.
More about LCWSC here,
