Whether you are a power-user or not, the cost of having a toilet in the Oak Crest condominium complex keeps getting steeper. Close to twenty-five residents showed up at the June 24th town council meeting to complain about a 42% increase in sewer costs since 2006. Like local homeowners, residents in Oak Crest community pay municipal taxes, water & sewer fees, in addition to a monthly maintenance fee.
These Oakland residents are looking at their rates rising to approximately $414 dollars a quarter. This equates to $3.45 a day to have a toilet, irregardless of how often, if ever, it is used. The residents at the town council meeting argued that there is no fairness in a payment formula that requires the same rate being applied to a single person as to a family of four or more. The majority of Oakland residents in the Oak Crest community do not have children and are comprised of single or couple households.
Business owners have also complained of the unfairness intrinsic to the formula being applied to commercial entities. Small administrative offices with two or three employees are being charged the same rate as businesses with tens of employees. The same complaints and the same solutions were offered then as were offered recently by members of the condominium community.
The businesses and residents who have complained about the inequitable system in place have been petitioning the town council for an immediate remedy. The solution most often offered to the council is to tie sewer rates with water rates. The logic being that heavy water users are most likely heavy sewer users.
The town council implied they are considering alternative formulas, but it is doubtful residents will find any relief in the near future.