So after 18 years at our current house our septic system started to fail. The Township required all grandfathered septic systems to be retired, not replaced, and we needed to switch to sewer. So going on a year ago we jumped through all the Township’s permit hoops, paid a $4k tap fee plus the installation fee for 180’ of sewer line. Huge hassle and expense, but it got done.
The other day my wife said hey, it’s been almost a year and we haven’t gotten a bill from the city for sewer usage yet. It’s supposed to be $800/yr, billed in quarterly installments. I said, maybe the $4k tap fee we paid also included the first year sewer payment, kind of like how you pay first and last month rent in advance for an apartment. And anyway the Township made our life so miserable with their stringent rules and fees, I say screw ‘em if they made a mistake. We could just put that $800/yr we would have paid them in some sort of interest-bearing fund, and if, say, a few years down the road they ask for back payment, at least we made some interest on the money. But my wife is worried in that scenario, they might charge us big fines or something on top of the back pay.
Any neighbor-friends who’ve been through the same drill to compare experience with? Asking the Township directly pretty clearly puts you on the radar… Is your home 180’ back from the street sewer, or did the Township have to extend the street sewer until it reached your frontage? Do you have municipal water, or your own well? In my city, when you get a water account, they automagically sign you up for sewer as well - if no water bill, then no sewer bill. If I fail to pay the bills, they file a lien against the property, but don’t shut the water off. They don’t have any good way to shut the sewer off, anyway…
I’d contact the Township’s utility department proactively and discuss this issue with them.
Ask them to waive any late fees. I’d be willing the bet they will if you ask (assuming there are any).
Document all of your efforts in the matter with religious zeal. Everything. Every phone call, every email…every everything about this.
I seriously doubt this will just go away if you ignore it. Eventually someone will see the error and come for all you owe at one time and that would suck…a lot.
If I owe the money, I pay the bill. If it’s a big bureaucracy and things slip through the cracks, I’ll at least make the first contact (and definitely document it). I’d get the name and extension/ID number of the person I spoke with, too.
Particularly since you’ve already considered the ‘less dishonorable’ approach of setting the money aside, you don’t seem to be trying to avoid payment altogether. My question is … why would you wait to attempt payment. It ain’t for the millions you’d earn in interest on that kind of dough squirreled away at Fred’s BankTM
It’s not as if I want to avoid payment that I owe, but the Township was pretty excruciating to deal with when getting the permits and such in place for the sewer. If they don’t bother with billing sewer without water, I don’t want to get on their radar-- be asking around and have some Township person think hey, if they want to pay so bad, I guess we can accommodate and put them on the billing list after all. Maybe after giving them some forms to fill out for three separate departments…
I pay the utilities on properties in two cities. Both in the same county and physically bordering each other. In one city, the water bill has the charges for the sewer already included on it. In the other city I get a water bill and a separate sewer bill.
Also, in one (maybe both, but one for sure) city, the sewer bll, while based on water usage, is extrapolated from the first quarter (ie winter water usage). The idea being that the increase in the summer is for things like watering your lawn/garden so it’s not using the (sanitary) sewer.
Work for local government here. A few Truths to consider:
Their failure to bill may work to your favor for the time being but ultimately the obligation to pay for the municipal services rendered does not go away simply because they haven’t sent you a bill. No matter how badly their billing services may have dropped the ball, the fact is that you’ve received services continually since they completed the hookup.
if you think you’re ‘sticking it to the Township’ and punishing them for being a pain to deal with earlier you are mistaken. Individuals working there may have feelings and egos, but at the end of the day understand that you’re fighting with an organization’s utterly impersonal account ledger. By law, they MUST make every entry and every column in that ledger balance out. State law requires it.
if you think you have dodged a bullet and are going to continue to receive free services forever you already know in your heart that’s not going to happen. Someone WILL eventually catch this on an audit. This is not an IF this is a WHEN. And when they do they will demand everything past due up front.
Best advice is to place yourself squarely on the radar to deal with this before the fees continue to grow. Negotiate now to avoid paying any late fees. If you don’t have the money to pay everything past due they will likely be happy to work with you and set up a payment plan where the past due amount may be spread out over time.
This. In my first apartment, I never received a gas bill. I just assumed that it was covered by the rent and never thought to question it. About 18 months later, I got a notice from the gas company stating that they needed access to the meter and would shut off my gas if I didn’t give them access. I called up and told them they had the wrong guy (talk to the landlord) and it came out that I WAS supposed to be paying a monthly gas bill. They wouldn’t admit that the error was on their end that they never sent a bill or pursued it, but it sort of didn’t matter because the end result was my responsibility to pay for a year and a half of unpaid gas bill. “Yup, yup… never was sent a bill… yup… never contacted… ain’t that a corker? So, you going to pay this or get your gas turned off and go to court/collections?”
Fortunately for me, it was mainly 18 months of hookup fees since all I had was a gas range (heating was via radiator) so it sucked for a single kid in his first place but wasn’t a financial crisis. And they didn’t hit me for late fees. But “I didn’t get a bill” didn’t relieve my responsibility to pay.
I’m not trying to ‘stick it to’ or punish anybody, I just don’t like dealing with our Township, and like to avoid it whenever possible.
But, coming from a poster with a Mr. Rogers avatar, I feel gently yet effectively admonished, and I take your (and others) points. I will do my due diligence to look into what’s going on with the sewer service payment.
@solost, do this. The sooner you find out what is going on the better off you will be. This is generally good advice in life, an unknown debt can be a time bomb.
Interestingly, I’ll just point out that while a municipality can turn off someone’s water (which you don’t receive from them), I’m not aware of any way for them to turn off your sewer…
Yes, I definitely plan to do so as of now, thanks.
You and me both on the confusion part. It was pointed out upthread that some local governments do tie water consumption and sewer usage together (ya don’t buy city water, ya rent it, amirite?), but not in every case.
Yes, this was pointed out upthread as well. It’s true they can’t turn off our sewer usage, but they can take legal action such as liens to get all back pay they are due, as well as possible fines or late fees.
Of course. I guess I missed someone had pointed it out, but I just like the idea of them having no way to punish you in terms of denying you access. Fees and interest, absolutely.
I’m with the others that I’d contact them, but that said if you don’t it just means an eventual large bill, and if you have the money it’s probably not the end of the world.
I don’t understand the hate (by governments) for septic systems. When I was in NH, I had well and septic. I was very careful what went down there, and had it pumped every 4 years or so. I loved how cheap it was, and when I left in 2018, the system from 1987 was still going strong. Mostly (IMO, not an expert) the problem is people putting things down there they shouldn’t.
