The year was 2003 and a trio of write-in candidates for the Landis Board of Alderman were running with a noble goal  as the guiding principle for their candidacy.

Will Beaver, John R. “Mike” Mahaley and Tony Corriher were asking Landis residents to write in their names “if you are ready to get back to lower water, sewer and electric rates, no more forced annexation or non-beneficial annexation and put this town back on track by stopping excessive spending,” a letter said.

Mahaley told Salisbury Post reporter Jonathan Weaver in 2003, “This is not a personal issue against anybody. I think we have to get the town back on budget.”

Corriher said renters were moving out of town because of the water rates and cited the closure of Parkdale plant No. 22 as an example of harm caused by rates. And, it was a good example, as Parkdale officials cited increased water and sewer fees as a factor in shuttering their plant in Landis.

But Beaver said the trio had no solid idea about how to lower the rates. They would need to get into office first.

The appeal worked, as the write-ins scored the top three spots on the ballot and secured a term on the board. Mahaley was the top vote getter. That year, then-Mayor Fred Steen slid by write-in challenger C.J. Nickelson with 52 percent of the vote. Not to be forgotten, in 2003, the first woman — Lisa Propst — was elected to the Board of Aldermen.

“The voters said they wanted and change, and the message is loud and clear,” Steen told the Salisbury Post in November 2003.

More than 16 years later, has that change come in the form of lower rates? If so, someone should tell the many Landis residents who, regardless of whether their bills are lower than in the early 2000s, continue to voice their complaints year after year about too-high water and electricity bills.

Those residents are paying more than the average North Carolinian, according to an online database maintained by the North Carolina School of Government. The data show a residential water bill in Landis for 5,000 gallons is $52.39 per month. That’s compared to a median residential bill of $31.05 from utilities within 25 miles of Landis.

Just to the north, in China Grove, it’s estimated 5,000 gallons of water results in a $31.05 residential water bill each month. Across Salisbury-Rowan Utilities’ system, the average residential bill for 5,000 gallons of water is $29.51 per month.

When water and sewer bills are combined, the UNC School of Government’s so-called Environmental Finance Center shows the same trend is true — Landis’ bills are above the average and many of its neighbors, too. Only bills in East Spencer are estimated to be higher.

Former Town Administrator F.E. Isenhour was fired in January 2004 in a 3-1 vote, with the write-in trio voting for the ouster. The reason? An election promise to lower water rates, Mahaley said.

One month later, Reed Linn was in. The Landis Board of Alderman voted unanimously to hire veteran firefighter and then-code enforcement officer Linn as its town administrator, with a start date at the end of March 2004.

Now, Linn is out as a result of an ongoing State Bureau of Investigation inquiry centering on embezzlement in town government. It’s far too soon to pass judgment about Linn’s departure, as we’re still unsure about most details of the allegation.

But there have been changes in the town’s water system. In 2004, for example, Landis was debating whether to buy water from Salisbury or Kannapolis or replace an existing water plant.

Now, the town buys drinking water from Kannapolis and Salisbury-Rowan Utilities. Wastewater is treated by Salisbury-Rowan Utilities.

This week, Mahaley, now the mayor, asked residents to “hang on,” among other thing, as they filled Town Hall to raise complaints about water and sewer rates as well as handling of the town’s finances.

But the “hang on” appeal might not work as well as pledging to lower water rates. It’s clear residents simply want answers and solutions that stick.

For Mahaley and Corriher, back on the board, finding those solutions would, once and for all, fulfill a promise made years ago.

Josh Bergeron is editor of the Salisbury Post. Contact him at josh.bergeron@salisburypost.com.