By Brenna R. Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

FLORENCE -- Residents on Longbranch Road can have water, but they'll have to pay.

That's what Florence city council decided Tuesday after months of wrangling with Boone County over who will provide water service to 22 homes in unincorporated Boone County.

The residents don't want to be annexed by Florence, but they want public water service.

Because Florence already had a water line along the road, Boone County asked Florence to provide water to the residents without requiring them to annex.

Council said Tuesday that will only happen if residents pay a $25-per-month surcharge, something Boone County has said they will not agree to.

"We did what we were asked to do, we agreed to allow non-residents to tap into the city water, and that took a lot of compromise on city council just to reach that point," said Mayor Diane Whalen.

The fee would allow the city to recoup the part of the cost of the water line "and shows that we aren't giving away city services," Whalen said. "We are responsible to the people who pay our taxes, we are responsible to the people who have annexed into the city for those services."

Though council discussed putting a time period on the fee, they decided the fee should remain unless the resident was annexed into the city.

"City services go on forever, city taxes go on forever, if we are going to have a water fee it ought to go on as long as they are using city water," said Councilman Mel Carroll.

Whalen will notify Boone County Judge-executive Gary Moore of council's decision.

Florence also agreed to share the cost of placing fire hydrants along Longbranch, and not to build any more city water lines along the road.

The Boone County Water District could build a water line from Orleans Road, where the Florence water line ends, to U.S. 42. That would give Florence a way to connect to its Farmview subdivision line and allow Boone Water to connect to its Pleasant Valley Meadows line.

Florence and Boone County would share Florence's water line on Longbranch with "flip/flop" meters recording whether city or county water is flowing through the line.

E-mail bkelly@enquirer.com