The state legislature is digging into looming water and sewer system problems around the state, but with billions in construction needs, money remains the sticking point.

A proposed tack-on fee for water and sewer bills across the state was once part of a proposed fix, but those fees will be dropped from legislation moving this week in the Senate, chamber leaders said Wednesday.

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"We're not going to do that," said Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, co-chair of the Senate Appropriations committee.

As written, Senate Bill 536 sets up a "viable utility reserve" to dole out grants and help local systems get back on the road to self-sustainment. It would tack $1 onto water bills and $1 onto sewer bills each month to raise money, but Brown and other senators said they plan to drop that language.

Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, said he expects to see some money in the state budget for this issue instead.

It's unclear how much would be set aside, but the state is running a surplus right now, collecting about $700 million more this year than expected. Gov. Roy Cooper called earlier this year for $800 million in borrowed money to begin addressing water and sewer needs as part of a $3.9 billion bond package that would spend the lion's share of of what it raises on education.

Republican leaders in control of the General Assembly rejected Cooper's proposal in favor of a smaller spending plan for local schools and college campus construction needs, but the final package has not yet been fully hashed out.

Dozens of water and wastewater systems across the state are struggling, for a number of reasons. Some were built to sustain industries that are no longer there. Some didn't charge enough to build up reserve funds to handle the inevitable rehab now coming into view. Some communities have lost population – and thus customers.

Water and wastewater system capital costs statewide over the next 20 years are estimated between $17 billion and $26 billion, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality. The department said in a 2017 report that the real number is more likely at the high end of that range, and that was before Hurricane Florence blew through last year, with flooding rains that exposed more problems.

In many cases, local systems can't afford the work it will take to keep them operating years down the road.

Senate Bill 536 is meant to help these systems evolve and become self-sustaining. The "viable utility reserve" wouldn't just provide rehabilitation grants, but money to connect small systems and create regional ones or to split up larger systems that might make more sense as smaller ones.

The bill also lays out a process for these mergers and splits and a process for identifying troubled systems.