City Hall Sux

[my73charger]

Man am I nervous.  I just talked to a friend that lives in a neighboring area of the city I live in.  Both additions were recently annexed into the city and the city extended sewer and water into her area already.  She was assessed $46,000 for the 300 feet on her lot for the job.  Her house payment went up over $500/mo because of it.  She doesn't know what she is going to do now.  I have 100 feet in front of my house so my amount would be less if it happens but that is rediculous.  She has already been trying to fight it but cannot do a thing but pay it or lose her home.

[PocketThunder]

Did she have a septic system before the city connected her into the sewer plant?

[my73charger]

Yes, she said it wasn't very old either.

[topduarte]

Was there an agreement between her and the city on paying the costs for extending the line?

If there are other owners or potential future homes near her, the cost is dividied equally between every homeowner along that line.

She could get some money back if others are tied into that new line.

Adding utilities over a long run is very expensive!!

Hope it works out.

[my73charger]

The cost was based on how many feet of road or street frontage you have.  Roughly 155 per foot.  She had a 300 foot lot.  There was a series of city council meetings but nothing concrete was ever laid out.  Lots of estimates and such.  They new something was coming but had no idea that it would be this high.  She said there are some families in her area that are "low-income" and they were able to secure grants to cover 100% of the cost.  My friend is"Working Middle-Class", so she couldn't get a grant.  Once again if you are working and trying to do things right you get penalized.  She is married and they have 4 kids too.

[Drache]

The same sort of thing happened in the city I used to live in, Quesnel. The city extended the sewer and water lines to houses in the Red Bluff area and it raised their costs. They had no say in the mater either.

[Arthu®]

Hmmm I would think that there is some way to fight that. Better seek some legal advice.

Arthur

[my73charger]

She did.  She contacted several attorneys in the area and none of them wanted the case.  They all said the same thing.  The City is within there legal right to do everything above.  Just like the old saying, You can't fight City Hall.

[Drache]

Same thing happened here. Some people wanted to get together and try to stop their houses from being hooked up. Every lawyer said the same thing,

"sorry but you knew eventually you'd come within city limits and be hooked up, you even got a 2 year warning. Sorry but there is nothing we can do."