Scotland County commissioners decided unanimously at a joint-meeting with the Laurinburg City Council to postpone their approval of a proposal by Pinehurst to purchase the West Point Pepperell water and wastewater plants for $5.5 million.

County Manager Kevin Patterson says the 90-day delay will allow Laurinburg and Scotland County to evaluate the purchase of the plant and their involvement.

"The commissioners agreed to wait about 90 days to give time for the county and the city to work together for answers on some of the estimated costs for water and some of the more functional aspects that we don't have the answers to yet."

Patterson said these questions include: "What would be the cost to purchase and how would that impact the rate that we would charge the citizens of Scotland County and the citizens of Laurinburg on the two different water systems? What are the means for connecting this to the Gibson and Wagram water systems how can they benefit from this?"

He said there were also questions about sewer transfer costs.

Patterson says the plant would still likely be bought by Pinehurst, the county and city are weighing their involvement with the plant after the Moore County village acquires the facility.

"The plant will likely go under some kind of authority."

Mayor Matthew Block expressed by email his support for the study.

"The city of Laurinburg is very interested and eager to explore the city's role in the potential of the water plant at the old West Point Plant. We very much appreciate the county commissioners allowing us to participate in this process. It is a complex and costly issue and we feel involves in depth study before an intelligent decision can be made. The city feels that 90 days is a reasonable amount of time for such a study to be completed. Only then do we feel we can make the best decison for the City and, in the process, hopefully help the County Commsioners make the best decision for the County."

The plants, both with a 7 million gallon per day capacity, are located at 19320 Airbase Road near Wagram. WP Properties is located in Georgia.

In a presentation earlier this year, Jim Perry of the Lumber River Council of Governments said the upgrades neccessary to use the plants for municipal water would cost $33 million before running new transmission lines. Pinehurst is situated about 30 miles from the plant.