Here's what happened. During the ice storm a home she owns on Park Avenue in Sac City Iowa had a leak that filled up the basement with 9000 gallons of water which then promptly froze over. The leak that caused the damage was not discovered for several days due to its resident's need to evacuate the property for the duration of the storm. The basement of the home, which is a dirt floor basement, has no sanitary sewer outlet.
Last year, the Sac City Council changed that way that it bills for sewer. More accurately it started charging the same amount for sanitary sewer disposal that it charges for water use. This was done to avoid having to ding property taxes to pay for the new waste water treatment plant. At the time of its adoption, the ramifications of the higher fee in regards to emergency situation such as this weren’t discussed.
During the discussion of the history of the billing for the home, it was discovered that in the mid to late nineties, a similar incident had occurred at the same residence, and that the council had, at that time, forgiven the sanitary sewer fee. According to Sandy Tellinghuisen, the city clerk, what the council did at that time was to forgive the portion of the bill over which was the normal average usage for that home.
It was also revealed during this portion of the discussion that during the billing period which encompasses roughly all of January, a person lived in the house for 15 days. According to Councilperson Jim Johnston, a person is estimated to use about 80 gallons per day.
"I don't have a problem paying for the water that's now frozen in the basement, I do have a problem paying for the sewer that wasn't used." said Ms. Rice, opening up the bargaining portion of our story.
Councilperson Nich Frohardt, disputing the reasoning behind her argument said, "My wife has a large garden, and I don't have a separate meter for that, you know, and she goes through a lot of water, and that water does not go through the sewer either." Mr. Frohardt insisted that it was the same principal, but if it were REALLY apples to apples here, Ms. Rice's would have "watered" her basement with the foreknowledge that keeping her basement moist was going to cost her sewer fees down the road she was not actually using.
The original bill that Ms. Rice was asking forgiveness for was $77.60. According to the city clerk, the meter fee made up $11.30 of the total, bringing the disputed portion of the bill down to $66.30.
Councilperson Brian Muska asked Ms. Rice if they could compromise and meet in the middle.
"Give me a middle." replied Ms. Rice.
Mr. Muska said, "You would owe the $11.30 anyway..."
"Right." she said, following.
"...and half of the $66.30 remaining is $33.15 so $44.45 is your portion." he finished.
Ms. Rice asked, "You want me to pay for half of the sewer fee, is that what you’re saying?"
Mr. Muska nodded and said, "Considering that water usage would be used in that time frame that [the resident was] living there."
While considering how to respond, Ms. Rice confirmed with the city clerk that the time period included most of January. The other two council people used the break in the conversation to say that they think that the method Mr. Muska used to determine the amount was fair.
Ms. Rice reminded the council that there was a precedent set with this particular home in favor of forgiveness. City Administrator Adam Ledford joined the conversation at this point and reminded everyone that in 90% of similar cases, these requests have been rejected.
Ms. Rice again reminded the council that this particular property has a specific precedence in favor of full forgiveness of the sewer bill and that she had no problem paying for the water that was used.
Mr. Johnston replied, "But you need to pay for the sewer that [was] used too. That's what we're saying... that's what we’re trying to come up with here."
Garnering nods of approval for her tenacity Ms. Rice asked, "O.K., what about 33%?"
The council remained firm on their decision, and by motion waived $33.15 of the original $77.60.
Ms. Rice said first softly, "I love the city." and then louder, "Thank you guys" and exited the building.
Copyright (c)2007-2010 Curtis Bloes
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