Does your city charge you for sewer?

[Whatthefluff]

We’re renting a house and owe $43 this month for sewer to the city. I have never heard of a city charging for this before, and for that amount.

[StormChaser838]

Hey little Fluff, I can't imagine you being responsible for it if you are just renting. It's the landlords responsibility. In anyway all these things like water, plumbing for gas for heat and hot water, water , sewer, etc. ,,,, they cannot cut it off by law. All the city will do for non payment is put a lean on the property, and that's the landlords problem. In NYC owning a house is a con job. More than the city, the utility companies , which are a monopoly for each area, just bill you like 2 or 3 thousand extra in your next bill saying we had to repair this gas pipe and it cost 50k and it's split between so many houses on this street block, so pay your share. Now they don't even tell you they are doing this repair , nor do you see any repair taking place. It's just a cool way to just butt fuck you. You are just a sitting duck. They must be milking millions this way and not even doing anything maintenance work.

Therefore , just ignore the bill or tell the landlord that , hey, I am getting your unpaid bills. Are you the only one on the property? In any case stick it to the landlord, I am sure you'll must be looking like a real kiddo, kiddo couple, so the bastard is just fooling you'll. Be firm it's not your responsibility, it's the property owners issue.

[Static_In_The_Attic]

Here Is A Sample Water & Sewer Bill. LOOK AT (C)

Unless you plan on taking a dump in the woods sewer isn’t free & usually water & sewer are one one bill & most bills with itemize it. As for you if you want to save money on your water & sewer bill use your dishwasher vs hand washing dishes in the sink. In your toilet you can adjust the amount of water per flush.

Use your dishwasher if you have one.

If you want to save on your electric bill let me know I have a few tips.

[jennifer_bloom]

If your renter is not good at English, the sewer fee might be interpreted as property maintenance, local regional tax increases, property tax increases, or property coalition needs such as repairs or new construction. It might also be a water or pluming fee. I know I've misdirected interpretations of things I meant to convey when I used a choice of wording that others did not deem relevant to the circumstance I was describing, using over simplified terms to describe specific situations that require more precise choice of ideas.

[rosemilk]

i do hope you're checking with the city if that's what they do/charge and make sure your landlord isn't just adding random charges on to your rent for nothing!

[rosemilk]

i'd also ask the neighbors

[WindAtMyBack]

Yes. Sewer and water are a combined bill. I think it's around $37 a month. It can go way up if you use a lot of water. Like watering the lawn daily can send it over $100 a month. A certain amount is included in the basic rate, enough for normal use. The sewer portion of the bill is based on water usage. So if water usage goes up, so does the sewer bill.

When renting apartments you are not normally responsible for it. But when renting a house you are responsible for all that stuff. Although if it's included in the property tax then you might not have to pay it, because it's indirectly included in the rent.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Everywhere I've ever lived charges for sewer. Where did you live if you don't mind me asking where you didn't pay for it? Or have you always rented? Some landlords will just wrap it into rent, but if you're tied to city sewar SOMEBODY is paying for that privilege.

[Whatthefluff]

Greater Dallas, the city trash/water bill also includes sewer apparently. The landlord pays 0 utilities.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Well, yes, okay many times they are combined, but still someone is paying it. The next town over from me they are combined. In mine they are not.

[Whatthefluff]

It’s weird because I’m from the northeast and never had to pay these kinds of things. Then again, they were apartments up there.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Not to be a jerk, but you didn't pay property taxes at the apartment either. Or homeowner's insurance. Or likely flood insurance. Or maintenance/replacement costs. One day when you're no longer renting you'll be paying those, too. Welcome to adulthood. We've got some rental units that have gas included, some where tenants pay everything, some with utilities included except for electricity. All comes down to how things are negotiated, but I still have to get them all paid at the end of the day.

[Whatthefluff]

No offense taken. I wish it was conceivable for me to ever be a homeowner instead of lining the pockets of some opportunists just to live.

[BoopBoopBeep]

negative sister that is untrue. I grew up really poor and i made it. i'm not special. Well, my rescue kittens think I am... but if i can do it i know you can too. i just wish YOU knew it. THere's a lot of really cheap country out there. You may not get to live in LA/NYC/San DIego/whatever, but you can lice chaeap and you can live well. Plenty of places 100k will still get you a house.

[Whatthefluff]

I’m thinking of NH possibly

[Red_Arrow]

All utilities cost money and someone has to pay. It can be done many ways. Some utilities are included in the cost of other utilities, such as sewer might be included under water since the sewer is collecting water used for washing, bathing, toilet, etc. Whether the renter or the landlord has to pay should be in the rental agreement.

[OfMiceandMen]

Yes, it ensures the city has money to cover the cost of replacing/rehabbing the sanitary sewer along the roadway (on city property).

What people don't know, is that monthly installment to the city does not include any sanitary work that needs to be done between your house and the City property where the connection/hook-up is.

It cost my buddy $40K to fix his own sewer line between the house and the city hook-up.

[nolabels]

Yep.

Where I live, the sewer charge is calculated by city water usage.

Use more water, pay a bigger sewer bill.

Unless you're on your own well and septic system, you're paying for sewer service in some fashion, through taxes or direct billing.

It just depends on the community that you're in.

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

Yes, Monongahela, Pennsylvania just charged me $261.58, or they were terminating my services, yes it's horrible what they charge people and I imagine that other places are different, but I would see what the City / Township charges you. There are too many people with their hands out to take money from low income people. I'm living in a small City.

[magiusX26]

thats standard practice of most water companies for probably last 40 plus years. like in nashville tennessee, they charge 3 or 4 times as much per gallon of water in sewer as they do for clean water coming into your place. reasoning behind it is maintenance (such as sewer lines) and sewage treatment costs.

[ArrowheadSW]

In some areas, the sewer is charged separately. In most areas it is included in the property taxes. So, the residents of the area get charged one way or the other.

[Iron_Man]

We used to have free water at my childhood home. We had a well now I’m paying $330 every three months we have a water leak I pay for sewers and water and it’s absolutely ridiculous. I got to try to get this fixed but the plumbers are extremely expensive. They won’t come unless they get paid a minimum of $400 just to find it not to fix it.

[CuriousMufuxka]

Water, sewer, and garbage. Funny thing is that the sewer charge is more than water usage. Also those combined is more than my electric bill! The sewage gets even deeper because those charges are based on a median of the community I live in. I could leave my home for a month and still have to pay the same price as everyone else.

[musicbrain5]

Yes. I think most municipalities do. It costs money to treat that water and pump it back into the system.

[matchrestore]

Yup. We pay the city for water, sewer, trash collection, brush collection, recycling, street lighting, and boulevard trees.

[LazerBean]

We live in town and that's about what we pay for our sewer. Our parents live further out of town and they don't pay, since they have septic systems.

[Pudsmucker]

We are charged so much for water usage at that is equal to sewage usage. We also are charged for stormwater, along with our weekly trash and recyclables. I too never heard of being charged for sewage until I moved here to KCMO Metro.

[petitedollbabee]

I’ve never heard of that. We just pay for power, gas and internet here. No water or sewage costs 😬

[exitseven]

Yes, we get charged for both water and sewer and we get an additional bill for rainwater runoff.

[msc545]

Cities will charge you for anything they can get away with - but if you are renting, the landlord usually gets and pays that bill.

[douride2]

I have my own septic field & well so I don't pay anything.

The town I live near charges about $130 a month for sewer & water.

[LiamJHayden]

One way or the other. Where I live it is part of the water charge.

[KrakenAttackin]

Pretty much every city does. It will only get worse, some cities are charging for storm water management as well, which is computed by the amount of impermeable surface your home and driveway creates.