Deborah Tayloe

09/21/2026

Bertie County Math: What does $1 million buy?

In FY2024, Bertie County’s Regional Water District brought in $2,876,352.

It paid $1,000,155 in debt service:

• $650,314 went toward principal
• $349,841 went to interest

That means about $350 out of every $1,000 brought into the water system went toward debt payments.

More than one-third of that $1 million did not reduce the debt at all. It paid interest.

At the end of FY2024, the Regional Water District still carried $10,748,339 in principal debt.

The good news is that the water system’s operating numbers improved. It went from a $156,498 loss in FY2023 to a $109,371 gain in FY2024.

That is progress.

But $10.75 million in principal debt still remains.

A water system cannot use the same dollar twice: once to pay yesterday’s debt and again to solve tomorrow’s water problems.

09/17/2026

Hats off to Bertie County!

When it comes to physical security at our water site locations, the county checks every box. State regulations require public drinking water wells to be protected behind a minimum 6-foot chain-link security fence, locked gates, and sturdy, secure wellhouses. Bertie County has them: heavy-duty padlocks, tall fences, razor wire and solid brick, locked wellhouses guarding the infrastructure. Nobody is wandering in by accident.

Which is exactly why the whole situation is so confounding.

As the owner and custodian of our public water system, Bertie County has a serious legal responsibility under North Carolina law (15A NCAC 18C .0203) to protect the 100-foot sanitary zone around active wellheads from potential contamination. That duty cannot simply be locked behind a gate and forgotten.

When the Department of Agriculture looked into the weedkiller damage at our well sites, the contractor who maintained them from 2020 to 2025 stated he never sprayed chemicals and strictly weed-eated. His original bid confirmed the NCDA findings. The Public Works also denied to NCDA having anything to do with it.

Yet dated photographs and street-level imagery show wide, distinct chemical kill strips hugging the fence lines and concrete pads during those years.

If our facilities are behind 6-foot razor-wire fences, the padlocks are secured, and the contractor only used string trimmers, who entered with the spray tank?

The only people with keys to those gates are county personnel and authorized contractors.

The security works great to keep the public out. It’s what’s happening behind the padlocks that nobody wants to explain.

09/16/2026

$55,129,035. That big number jumped off the page when I looked at Bertie County’s recently published FY2024 audit.

A Bertie citizen sent a PM asking if I knew how much debt Bertie County was carrying. I didn’t. So I looked.

The audit reports total long-term liabilities of $55,129,035 as of June 30, 2024. That includes more than borrowed money. Pension obligations, retiree health benefits, compensated absences, lease liabilities, and other accounting liabilities are included in that total.

So let’s drill down.

Bertie County had $29,463,045 in outstanding principal on bonds, installment financing, and its revenue bond.

Nearly $29.5 million in borrowed principal. That is normal. Most county governments borrow money to finance buildings, equipment, water systems, and infrastructure.

But here is the number that caught my attention:

$10,748,339 of that outstanding principal was tied to the Regional Water District.

✅ More than $55.1 million in total long-term liabilities.

✅ Nearly $29.5 million in borrowed principal.

✅ Nearly $10.75 million tied to water.

$10.75 million tied to water. That makes the water system more than a utility issue. It’s a financial one, too.

09/15/2026

Some women collect shoes. Evidently, I collect government documents.

09/14/2026

13 years of the same damage pattern.

Harrell Well 3B
418 Exter Road, Colerain

2013.
2023.
2026.

The images are from Google - an independent third-party source.

In 2026, NCDA confirmed that the current contractor had used glyphosate without the required license and told him to stop immediately. NCDA could not determine what caused the existing kill strips. No soil testing was performed. If only the State had a testing lab.🤣🤣🤣

Now look at the photos.

Same County wellsite. Same hard-edged strip of dead vegetation around the fenced facility. Visible in images spanning 13 years.

The photos do not tell us what chemical, if any, caused the damage in 2013 or 2023.

They do tell us something else:

This pattern was there long before the current contractor arrived.

But sure. Let’s keep pretending this is a brand-new contractor misunderstanding.

09/12/2026

Didn’t think it was too much to ask. ✨

09/11/2026

FOIA is not a catch-all phrase for “government records.”

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is the federal law for records held by federal agencies. Think EPA, USDA, or DOJ.

Bertie County is a local government. Its records are governed by North Carolina’s Public Records Law, N.C.G.S. Chapter 132.

Here's the important part: You don't need special skills, a template, or a law degree to request public records. You can simply request identifiable existing records, including emails, contracts, invoices, policies, logs, reports, and similar documents created or received while conducting public business.

The County doesn't have to answer every question you ask in an email or respond to public comments at meetings. But it does have to provide access to non-exempt existing public records.

Different law. Same basic idea: the public has a right to review public records, even if it makes local leadership squirm.

09/11/2026

09/10/2026

Here we go again.

On August 31, I requested Bertie County Water Department records showing what chemicals were purchased for use at County water sites. Yesterday, I sent a 10-day follow-up because I didn't get a response.

Why am I asking?

Because the County’s earlier record production did not include an executed maintenance contract. It did not include a Scope of Work explaining what work was expected at these water sites. It also didn't include chemical application logs.

Those missing documents matter.

A contract and Scope of Work should tell us what the contractor was hired to do. Were contractors told to mow only? Weed-eat fence lines? Spray herbicides? Were County employees authorized to do that work themselves? Did anyone receive notice of what chemicals were allowed around water infrastructure?

Without those records, there is no written paper trail explaining how these sites were maintained.

So I asked for the receipts.

Not because I expect the County to answer every question I have. Not because I need another circular email exchange. But because chemicals cost money, and somebody had to purchase them.

These are fenced and locked water sites. Unless space aliens teleported inside and applied some toxic goop around our wellhead sites, records could show what the Water Department bought and used. These could also show that I'm way off base and they never purchased herbicides at all. Frankly, that would put my mind at ease.

09/09/2026

Bertie County water customers: If your bill arrived late, this may save you a phone call.

At tonight's County Commissioners meeting, County Manager Juan Vaughan acknowledged that water bills sometimes get mailed out late.

He said customers should not be charged a late fee when their payment was late because the bill was mailed late.

If you've been charged a late fee under those circumstances, Vaughan said to call the water department. If you have any problems, ask for Alicia. If you can't get the issue resolved with her, he said you can contact him.

My last bill arrived after its due date. When I went to the counter to pay it, I had no problems. They didn't even mention a late fee. She just took my cash and said, "Thank you, ma'am. Be safe," as she passed my receipt under the window.

Just passing this along because I've accidentally become the lady people contact about Bertie County water. 😂