It’s never easy to agree to pay more – even when it’s the right thing to do.

The town of Lewiston Woodville has been receiving water from Bertie County for the same price for five years. That price hasn’t increased, despite an agreement for it to do so, because the Bertie County Commissioners have not wanted to cause hardship to the citizens of the town.

While the attitude of the board is commendable because they are trying to help one of the municipalities in Bertie County, the truth is other citizens in Bertie County have subsidized the town for far too long. Those citizens should not be expected to take up the slack for the town no matter what financial difficulties the municipality was facing.

Monday, the town and county came together with an agreement that will allow Lewiston Woodville to slowly, but steadily, pay a more appropriate price for the water they received.

We’re sure it was a tough pill to swallow for Mayor Carl Lee and his town board, but it is absolutely the right thing to do. We all must pay our fair share and the town has agreed to pay its rightful share. They should be commended for working with County Manager Zee Lamb to reach an agreement that is equitable and fair.

Lamb should also be commended for being firm in his stance that the town must come closer in line with its payment for water and that other county citizens shouldn’t be paying more because the town is paying less.

In this case, everyone did what they should have for the betterment of the citizens of Bertie County. Too many times that simply isn’t the case. Fortunately, the town of Lewiston Woodville has leaders willing to do what is right and so does Bertie County.

Well done by all.