Off-base in The Acreage

Residents of The Acreage received an unpleasant dose of reality last week with the release of a proposed $10.6 million 2005-06 operating budget, a 40 percent increase over the current year.

While the district board tries to tame anticipated traffic from The Scripps Research Institute, it is fighting a costly battle with the county over the future of water service to the rapidly growing area. That legal fight produces the budget's most alarming figure: an extra $500,000 in legal and engineering fees. Some of those charges will pay lawyers for work done during the current year. That's just an estimate, however, because the Atlanta firm of Hunton & Williams has yet to bill the district for an April trial.

More alarming is that the Indian Trail Improvement District Board majority is following the lead of Chairman Christopher Karch, a water engineer whose behavior raises questions about his decision-making. This month, Mr. Karch was Tasered in his own back yard after he refused to identify himself to a sheriff's deputy, unbuttoned his shirt and charged the deputy, who was responding to a silent burglar alarm. In April, after a judge denied an injunction to stop the county from running water lines through The Acreage, Mr. Karch personally tried to block the work by confronting a contractor, who described Mr. Karch as "very unreasonable" and "screaming at the top of his lungs."

Mr. Karch was instrumental in the departure of Indian Trail Administrator Ed Oppel, who wanted the district to accept a county offer that would have paid the district up to 15 percent of future water sales. Mr. Karch pushed to hire the Atlanta lawyers, whose ultimate cost is not known, to fight for the district's right to provide water, a goal that may be beyond the district's reach.

The district's humble origins overseeing drainage for a rural area focused on pulling together enough money to pave a few dirt roads every year. Now that the district is home to more than 30,000 residents, there is a justified concern about traffic bleeding through neighborhoods from Scripps. As a result, the district budgeted $131,000 to close roads and bridge culverts. Residents who still rely on wells and septic tanks probably care less about which government provides utility service than they do about how much they will pay and whether they can drink the stuff that flows from the tap. Under Mr. Karch, the reality is that Indian Trail's budget is not reflecting the proper priorities for most Acreage residents.