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We just received a bill that is 50% higher than the month before with no change in use or services. I understand inflation, but my quick google work shows 50% over a decade is more typical.

What are you seeing for inflation?
Based on the price of groceries and fuel since FJB moved into the White House I would say 50% is conservative over the last two or three years if you haven’t seen an increase since 2020. I think 75% is more realistic.
The town sent a letter of explanation stating the need for maintaining our system. Oddly enough the mayor also developed 5% of the new lots in town.
10-12% here
Originally Posted by high_country_
The town sent a letter of explanation stating the need for maintaining our system. Oddly enough the mayor also developed 5% of the new lots in town.

County I just moved out of just added a "storm water runoff fee" to their bills, residential and commercial. Buddy with a warehouse and big parking lot had 3k added to his quarterly bill. Yet they have done nothing to fix drainage issues since all this started.

We are on a septic so we only pay for water, but county changed to smart meters called "master meters". Everyones water bill skyrocketed, mine went from 40 bucks to 240 a month, buddys went from 240 to 1k at his house. Took me months to get mine rectified, supposedly the meters aren't accurate and I know industrial suppliers that have stopped selling them to municipalities because of the issue.
My city water is about $45 a month

no sewer
no gas


They siphon off $5 a month for “landfill fees” for use of our convenience stations. Attach that fee via monthly electric
Originally Posted by high_country_
The town sent a letter of explanation stating the need for maintaining our system. Oddly enough the mayor also developed 5% of the new lots in town.

Lol, yep they sent me one of them letters, bill went up 120%.
I feel for you all who have to live in a city/village etc... They have you by the short-hairs - and they know it..

I have a well. I have a sewer. Only thing I pay for is garbage and that's $75/mo..


I've told my wife since the day we got married that I will never live inside some 'city limits' unless I'm in a nursing home - and at that time I won't GAS...
No water or sewer bill here. Well and septic.

Electric this year vs last = small increase, something like a couple of cents per Kw/hr

Trash bill for the dumpster went up $4 -$5 a month
Originally Posted by Redneck
I feel for you all who have to live in a city/village etc... They have you by the short-hairs - and they know it..

I have a well. I have a sewer. Only thing I pay for is garbage and that's $75/mo..


I've told my wife since the day we got married that I will never live inside some 'city limits' unless I'm in a nursing home - and at that time I won't GAS...

Same here though we do pay electric and propane.
Originally Posted by killerv
Originally Posted by high_country_
The town sent a letter of explanation stating the need for maintaining our system. Oddly enough the mayor also developed 5% of the new lots in town.

County I just moved out of just added a "storm water runoff fee" to their bills, residential and commercial. Buddy with a warehouse and big parking lot had 3k added to his quarterly bill. Yet they have done nothing to fix drainage issues since all this started.

We are on a septic so we only pay for water, but county changed to smart meters called "master meters". Everyones water bill skyrocketed, mine went from 40 bucks to 240 a month, buddys went from 240 to 1k at his house. Took me months to get mine rectified, supposedly the meters aren't accurate and I know industrial suppliers that have stopped selling them to municipalities because of the issue.


We had that here too. They had installed meters that measure by the gallon and were charging by the cu/ft....which is nearly 7.5 gallons.
If you think sewer is free they’ll get somewhere else. Sanity gravity and forcemain sewers are not cheap to maintain. Too many nuances with besides just gravity.
Originally Posted by slumlord
If you think sewer is free they’ll get somewhere else. Sanity gravity and forcemain sewers are not cheap to maintain. Too many nuances with besides just gravity.

That's what's going on right now in the little spot in the road town I live in.

Sewer and water systems old and failing, when it rains much over a couple inches in a day the storm water leaks into sewer enough to overwhelm the pumps. The next town down the road passes the turd water through to the bigger treatment plant and they charge the little spot in the road town a whopping bill. Spot in the road can't pay it. Here comes the state to take over. I'm sure all that will go well.

Thinking about getting one of them Cadillac chitter seats for a 5 gal bucket.
We got rid of our trash service last fall so we now have none of the above. The trash bill kept going up and up. When it hit $50 a month, we dropped it. We bag it up in large heavy duty bags and we have a place to keep them. About once every 2 months I haul them to a transfer station about 8 miles away for $5. It's not out of the way and I'm by there on occasion anyway.
Originally Posted by slumlord
If you think sewer is free they’ll get somewhere else. Sanity gravity and forcemain sewers are not cheap to maintain. Too many nuances with besides just gravity.

When we were on the city sewage we were charged a sewage rate which depended on your usage. First house had a sprinkler system and I went crazy with that thing the first year, til that sewage rate got updated. My sewage rate was more than the water. They explained to me that they base your sewage rate where I was at on your lowest 8 months of usage, so for basically 4 months out of the year, you can go crazy with the water. I however ran them from March to October that first year. Other option was to have a 2nd water meter installed at a tune of 1500 bucks just for the sprinkler system that sewage wouldn't be calculated on, I chose to cut back on my sprinklin'.

Trash pickup is on your where I'm at now, old place it was required and 120 every 3 months. Now I just take it to the local dump myself for free or find a dumpster at an apartment complex to use.
Water here around 80 a month, Gas 75, electric 125 a month.

We were told utilities would double in the next five years, cause rates haven't been raised In many years.
Well and septic at my house, so no bill at all until they decided to charge us a "storm water management fee". They told the citizens that it would only be for two years until upgrades in the systems were completed then the fee would go away. Everything was upgraded after two years, but 10 years later we're still being charged. There's not a storm water drain within a mile of my house, yet I have to pay them $45/month to "manage" my storm water. Frickin thieves.
Probably just sloppy meter reading. Call ‘em and request they look again
Electric averages $75-$100 month.
Don't pay sewage. We have a lagoon.
Water?
Whole different story!
Our RWD had been supplying everyone with wells. About two years ago, they decided they needed a "surface water treatment" plant. 😖
When we first moved here in '02, water averaged $45/$50/month. Since they built the plant, they push $100 every month!
Garbage, due to fuel prices, went up over $100/month!
Called and told them, "I won't do that! I'll go back to a burn barrel!"
They reduced the bill to $99.50!!!! 😖
Well, septic,take my own garbage out. Other prices are up 50-200% overall, since the Trump Admin, tho.
Mine is around 100 a month if I don't wash vehicles or water. It includes sewer garbage and mosquito. Most towns around here are 30 or 40 a month. Our water is over chlorinated so we don't drink it. It sucks.
Originally Posted by las
Well, septic,take my own garbage out. Other prices are up 50-200% overall, since the Trump Admin, tho.

Same. Well, septic, burn garbage in a burn barrel.
Our water has held pretty steady, but we live in the sticks. House gas from the gas well on site. Trash is a dumpster location a few miles down the road.

We did just get fancy new dumpsters to replace the ancient rusty ones. These don't even have spraypaint graffiti yet. Will miss seeing the "Go Trump", "No Diving!", and "GOOBER GRABBER" artwork to which we'd grown so accustomed.
I pay 52.05 every month for water and sewer.
Hire our own trash service here. $300 per year, but ours is double the normal rate, my Son generates lot's of trash.
Well, turd eating tank, garbage is around $70.
Not sure, I have person for that.

Township supervisors sent out a letter wanting to know how many would like to have sewer extended out to our area. The Millionaire neighbor immediately bought a big cornfield for several hundred thou$and.😂😂😂😂


And everyone else who had functioning systems?
They knew that a municipal line meant $3-4000 tap fees,
digging up their yards, screwing around with hooking and unhooking plumbing, plus dealing with the poop tank. They politely 😏 said GFY!
Keep in mind that the NEW Revised Lead and Copper rules promulgated by the EPA, will probably cause an increase for many utilities systems.

ALL Utility systems must have an inventory of all drinking water lines (including the PRIVATE service lines to the house) that have, had, or suspected to have, any possible lead contamination (even Galvanized lines) and a plan to replace them by October of 2024.

More importantly, there are no federal funds to offset the expense of this federally mandated rule change. Compliance is mandatory. Small systems will suffer more than larger urban areas.


Frog---OUT!
Also keep in mind that Wastewater treatment plants in MO with 1 to 15 MGD flow will have to meet total Phosphorous discharge rates of 1.0 mg/L by 2033.

So if you think your sewer rates are bad now wait till these small towns have to build a 30 million dollar treatment plant to meet these rates...............

Thank the EPA & DNR for this.........
Insurance is up!
Originally Posted by Mannlicher
Probably just sloppy meter reading. Call ‘em and request they look again
Some towns/cities with water meters don’t really read them every month. Too labor intensive. Instead, they just bill based on your average usage and read the meter a couple times a year to do a “catch-up” bill. The catch-up can be hell if you’re busting your average.
Wow

The Shît Sucker truck is $300 here. And that’s with him usually bringing his son along too.
MY wife pays the water bill, I don't think it's a lot, maybe $20-30 a month. A friend in on the WATER BOARD. I tell him whatever it is it's a bargain !! I grew up in a rural area, with our own well etc. Wells go bad, pumps fail, lines leak, power outages !! My Dad was a homebuilder, licensed plumber, electrician etc. He did not take trouble calls from the Public, but friends & neighbors, he would. I grew up HOLDING THE LIGHT !!!!
We live in town and our water, sewer and garbage is on one bill. This time of year it's around $95, show lawn season maybe up to $115.


Just looked at an old duplicate check book from January 2021 and it was $88. No complaints here!
What's a checkbook?
I don't know how people get by without one.
I went to Dollar General today to buy some reading glasses. They were 50% higher than I paid a few years ago.
I miss my old place. I had 12 acre feet of water for 30 bucks a year and on septic. When I got to this little town 10 years ago my property taxes were less per year than one month of tax and one month of utilities. The utilities were $45. Now I pay 6.25x the tax and 5x the utilities.

But my wages are up 10%.
Originally Posted by EdM
I wen[quote=EdM]I went to Dollar General today to buy some reading glasses. They were 50% higher than I paid a few years ago.

Home Depot is your friend

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Magnife...ses-2-0-Magnification-86041-14/304519864

Hank Hill approved at $5 each, by far the toughest cheap readers I’ve found.

I order online and have ‘em delivered since most stores are usually sold out.
Spokane has always been relatively reasonable, but started climbing about 4 years ago. $150.00 a month for garbage, sewer, water for a smallish 2 bedroom 1 bath house. Now that the leftists in Spokane have elected a commie carpetbagger from Olympia as the new mayor, I expect fees will take off like a rocket.
Zero here.
It’s gone way the fuuuck up like everything else
Water here - in a place that rains four feet per year - is $90+/month.....
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