Just like I’ve always thought.  They’re going to get your money, no matter what happens.

Yep. I was pretty upset about that. I know we have plentiful water, right now anyway, and the water department’s budget is based on past and projected water use. But that’s still no excuse for punishing people for conserving. Even though we have plenty of it, water is still expensive here. So I wonder how this will work. Will people cut back even more to make up for that added $40 penalty or what?

I have to say that I sure didn’t this week. Man, did I ever get a shock when I looked at my water meter for the end of the week tally. The town should love me.

Insane...you can’t win for losing.  Something doesn’t sound right!!

’Tis true. Water use is down 10% over last year and down 20% from five years ago. That’s about when the last price hike took effect. The water department cut their budget by $50,000 and are grabbing the rest of the shortfall from us. Yet, according to the Sewer Commission spokesperson who was quoted in the paper...conserving water really is a very good thing. Uh huh.

So we pay through the nose if we use it and we pay through the nose if we don’t.

and so where is the incentive?????  And you know less people are like you and there will be those who are going to say screw that and will forget all thoughts of conserving and will use it as much and as often and as foolishly as they choose.  Someone has to have thought of that........oh well, I figure your town was first, mine will be right behind it.  You watch!

Good word......."rue"

I wouldn’t be surprised to see other towns follow suit.

This seems more like a band-aid than a sustainable solution. If water costs go up, I would imagine the response would be to use less water. Same as what happened when the rates went sky high 5 years ago. It seems like a self-perpetuating problem. I have no idea what a good solution would be. People are using less water, but the costs of maintaining the water supply and infrastructure continue to climb. Shouldn’t someone have thought of that a few years ago??