Walhalla water fund draws interest

The deal that Walhalla and conservationists struck five years ago protected 440 acres on the mountain from development and left the city with more than one million dollars in the bank. That money has never been spent, as the mayor and city council in 2007 designated the money for a savings account restricted to the project of acquiring a new water source for the city. The money has never been drawn because the water project remains only a goal. City Administrator Nancy Goehle says the $1.2 million received from the S-C Conservation Bank sits today in Columbia, in a S-C Local Government Insurance Fund, restricted to Walhalla. Since that fund was created in 2007, Goehle says, the $1.2 million principal has earned interest amounting to about $70 thousand. So, the account today approximates $1 million, 284 thousand.