Sedona Arizona

Sedona AZ (February 23, 2010) – In a letter to the SedonaTimes.com (now SedonaEye.com) editor directed to Mayor Rob Adams and the Sedona City Council, a Sedona resident says no to any sewer fee increase:

Dear Mayor Adams and Councillors,

I will be unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting but feel it is very important that you read and understand why there is such an outcry from the citizenry about a sewer rate increase and why you must NOT vote for any such increase.

Background: 1. Our area (Harmony Hills) was among the first selected for sewer installation in 1993.

The hook up fees back then cost each homeowner $2100.00; additionally, the dismantling and preparation of the site varied with each household but cost most of us a minimum of $600, up to $1500.00 per lot.

So, before we ever received service, we were required to lay out an average of $3100.00, a considerable burden for most of us.

Then we were assessed $32.54 per month, regardless of whether we were single homeowners or had twenty people living in our homes.

We were told that some type of METERING would be implemented to make up for this extreme inequity; the City never did anything.

So, even those of us who have lived alone and require far less in terms of use, have been paying the same as large households.

That sum is approximately $400.00 per year. For 15.5 years that amounts to $6200.00.

Add in the hook-up fee and prep costs and you have a total of approximately $9300.00 — just for sewer fees for a private, single householder home.

For LANDLORDS, the sewer fees and policies are ESPECIALLY UNFAIR.

The City requires that landlords guarantee their renter’s monthly sewer fees; essentially, the LANDLORD becomes a bill collector for the City.

NO OTHER UTILITY DOES THIS; they all require the RENTER to provide adequate credit before signing on for service. If the renter defaults, THE RENTER — NOT THE LANDLORD — is liable for past due bills.

When questioned about this injustice, the City answers by telling the LANDLORD to charge more for rent — to cover this “probability.”

That is ridiculous, especially in this economy. More than once I have been “stuck” when irresponsible renters left before their lease was up and they abandoned the property without any notification.

Over the years the City has penalized me, a tax-paying resident, for unpaid sewer bills, left by abusive “transients.” This is totally unjust. It NEEDS to be changed.

Also, when a RENTAL IS VACANT, as has been the case too often during these past years, the City continues to charge for sewer!!! This is OUTRAGEOUS. Given that water and all other utilities are turned off in vacant rentals, there is no justification to pay for a service one DOES NOT RECEIVE!!!

It is a service that CANNOT be used unless water is available. Why does the City continue to gouge landlords and refuse to at least issue a CREDIT for the months when sewer is not operative?

Proof of non-occupancy is easy enough to document, so why does the City continue to charge for NO SERVICE? This policy NEEDS to be changed.

Before the City embarks on this onerous path — of more taxation, more economic burdens on its residents — it needs to take a much more serious look at the “real” waste it is involved in.

Few of us feel that this City — or government in general — has made enough of an effort to slim down their own houses before further taxing the people they serve.

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