Stop High Sewer Rates
In Taylor Texas
I’m forced to pay $165.39 per month (see below)
PLEASE CHECK YOUR SEWER RATE AND READ THE FOLLOWING:
When a new resident of Taylor Texas goes to City Hall to request City Services you must pay a deposit & connect fee of $138 after you complete their application.
Pertaining to sewer rates this is all you saw on your “New Service” application for utility service: (You MUST initial the statement in your application)
Note: If this is true then your rate should be 5 times $7.01 (per 1000 gal. monthly usage) which is $35.05 and not the $66.78 per month that they really charge!
Seems they add another “BASE CHARGE” of $31.73 to come up with $66.78. They do not explain the additional base charge anywhere in their fees!
If you happen to look up in “City Fees for Services” on their website, you will find that sewer rate is calculated at $7.01 per 1000 gal. of use.
Odd that the highest rate for water use is $5.04 per 1000 gal of use! So, it actually costs less to fill your toilet than to flush it!
Elsewhere it is mentioned (if you get a “how to read your bill” pamphlet) that sewer rates are calculated based on your average water consumption during the months Dec. – Feb. where 100% of your water use is used to compute your sewer use.
THIS IS FLAWED LOGIC! Watering your grass, washing your car, filling your pool or pressure cleaning your house does not require wastewater treatment nor does it flow to our wastewater treatment system!
To warn you of this rate period, this is all you see on your utility bill:
Currently there is no way to protest your sewer rate and you MUST pay the calculated sewer rate for the full year until after the next Dec. – Feb. time period that will calculate the next year rate.
In my opinion and basic logic dictates that you should never pay more for sewer that water you consume every month! However, many of us do just that!
I spoke at the City Council Meeting on April 14, 2022 and the Mayor suggested I get with the City Manager. I met with the City Manager on April 27, 2022 where his staff argued that just because I was unaware of how the sewer rates are calculated they are justified in charging me $165 per month for sewer!
I presented a simple solution to the issue in that all new residents should pay the base sewer fee for the first 12 months, then use the 12 month history to calculate the sewer rate. However, any case, the $7.01 per 1000 gal. of use is absolutely too high. Other cities do not come close to charging that rate. They should check out how other cities calculate and bill for sewer services.
In the end of the meeting the City Manager stated that my “case has plausibility, so please allow us time to research and see what we can do”. Meanwhile I’d like to bring to their attention just how many residents of Taylor have a similar issue or have strong objections to our sewer rate calculation process.
Hopefully we can convince the City Council to revisit how sewer rates are calculated in the future.
Please complete the form on the Sign Up page so we can get things moving ASAP.