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What do you pay for your sewer?

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by qbee42, Jan 26, 2009.

  1. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    This may sound like an odd question, but our village has finally installed sanitary sewers. Our sewer authority is not basing the fee on water usage, but instead is using magic numbers to come up with the assessment and fee. In our case, since we have a large building, they are assessing us a one time fee of $50,000 and charging $150 per month, which is considered three standard units. This means a normal house will be paying $50 per month. I am curious how that stacks up to other municipalities.

    Thanks,
    Tom
     
  2. eagle33199

    eagle33199 Platinum Member

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    I paid a little under $100 for the 4th quarter of 2008 (my city bills every 3 months). they base bills on water usage.

    Of course, YMMV, as water costs vary from area to area...
     
  3. Rae Vynn

    Rae Vynn Artist In Residence

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    Where we live, it is based on water usage.
    Our monthly bill runs about $50 for combined water and sewer.
     
  4. JSH

    JSH Senior Member

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    Our county bills based on usage but we have only been over the minimum fee twice.

    Water is $10 per month
    Sewer is $12 per month
    Trash is $10.50 per month.

    I have no idea what the rate per unit is once usage exceeds the base rate.
     
  5. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    "Sanitary sewer" sounds so oxymoronic, doesn't it? It's just a longer tailpipe, as it were. And fifty grand? Ouch! I'd be perfectly happy with an outhouse. We have to take the puppy out at all hours anyway...;)

    We pay an annual fee for combined water and sewer, both unmetered, of about $350. At some point, it's gotta be cheaper for the city to pay for composting toilets than to maintain the leaky, ageing infrastructure that only concentrates the pollution and dumps it all in one place.
     
  6. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    I searched around, but I cannot find how much I'm paying for sewer. I find no tax or utility bill with an itemized charge for sewer. If it's built into my water bill, that's only $11/month. Maybe the association pays it out of our monthly dues, which are $170/month and include landscaping, lawn mowing, snow removal, maintenance of the association club house, and exterior maintenance of the houses including roof repair and (when needed) replacement.

    Maybe they're just dumping our sewage surreptitiously into the river.
     
  7. okiebutnotfrommuskogee

    okiebutnotfrommuskogee Senior Member

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    Our sewer charges are higher than the water charges and are based on water usage. Water rate is $2.31 per 1,000 gallons. Sewer rate is $3.23 per the same 1,000 gallons of water used. Also, both water and sewer have a $4.08 fixed fee each. We are billed monthly.
     
  8. lakedog

    lakedog Junior Member

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    Where I live, the sewer is $44. per month. A few miles up the road, a small town where I grew up is experiencing the switch from private septics to a mandated public sewer system. Residential and commercial were paying a couple grand each to hook up to the new sewer, but the monthly rates were probably headed for to court. Residential was around $75-90 per month, a little tavern was being told around $2200. per month. Ouch!
     
  9. Paradox

    Paradox Prius Enthusiast / Moderator
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    Here in the city we get billed very 3 months or water and sewer. I've got a single family dwelling, just 3 people in the house and my bill averages $110 off month cycles like fall and winter and as high as $155 summer. Sewer takes up more of the bill, I'd say about 65% sewer and 35% freshwater.
     
  10. alanh

    alanh Active Member

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    I pay about $18 a month in Phoenix for sewer. It's based on water usage in Jan-Mar -- the assumption is that higher water usage in other months is for yard watering and doesn't go in the sewer.
     
  11. wyounger

    wyounger New Member

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    Holy cow at these rates!

    In metro Atlanta we pay about $5 per thousand gallons of water supplied. And for each thousand gallons of water supplied, we pay about $7 for sewerage, and that will be more like $9 in a couple years.

    The average household water bill in my county is $70, and in the city of Atlanta proper I think they are over $100.
     
  12. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    Holy .... s***. Do you have to cough up the 50 G's all at once? It's cute they're charging you a fixed fee every month, no water meter

    If I were you, I'd take 6 showers a day, and let the shower run at least 50 minutes. Give the cat a bath every day too. If you have a pair of dirty socks, toss them in the machine and run a full cycle. Every time you have a coffee, run the single cup through the dishwasher

    BTW: I have a water meter, and am billed every quarter. In winter, usually $60, or $20 a month, for sewer and water. In summer, with lawn watering, usually $150 a quarter, or $50 a month
     
  13. San_Carlos_Jeff

    San_Carlos_Jeff Active Member

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    Sewer is $490/year. It's a flat rate for each residential unit. I think we pay it when property taxes are due...

    Water peaks in the summer at about $120/month and in the winter is close to $30/month.
     
  14. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    We have a water meter. Water is billed separately, so it is not involved with the $50,000 and $150 per month. For some reason the sewer authority decided to go with a flat fee, rather than tie it to water usage. I don't like it.

    As for the $50 Gs, we can finance it over 15 years. The interest rate is so low that it makes no sense to pay it up front. Still, there are other things I could do with $50,000. Buying beer comes to mind. Starting fires, wrapping fish...the possibilities are nearly endless.

    It's been a bad year for finances. We took a huge hit in the stock market, both in terms of equity and dividends, then we get nailed with this. As a cost saving measure, I'm going to adopt the standard nautical chart labeling convention on my future PC posts and leave out all vowels and every third consonant.

    The previous sentence will now be posted like this: "s cs svg ms, 'm gg t pt th tnrd tc cht lbng nvtn m fr C pts n lv ll wl nd r thd cnnn."

    Tom
     
  15. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    :jaw:

    I literally felt myself falling out of my chair when I read, and carefully re-read, that sentence. Are you sh***ing me? So not only do you have to cough up 3 G's and change every year for the next 15 years, in addition to the $150 a month, but you STILL HAVE TO PAY FOR THE F****** WATER?!?!

    Want my advice? Time to move. Now. Today. I mean, holy s***

    Option #1 and #2 are good. If our currency does what happened in Iceland, perhaps #3 will work well too

    Yeah, again, don't get me started. I had less than 15% of my total portfolio in the stock market, and I might as well write off that 15%

    As far as actual cash or cashy investments, the rate of return is now so low, it will take about 25 years for me to double my investment.

    I really had planned to semi-retire in the next 5 years, that plan is pretty much done unless I take the offer I've had to sell my consulting business, and work for my competition - or take an additional buyout for a non-compete clause. That makes my blood boil, like selling my soul

    Not that I don't mind working, it's just that my Bullshit Tolerance Factor is approaching zero

    Getting back to your situation, what with deranged small community politics involved: move, now, today