*
I’m hooking up to sewer which is at the corner of my property. I’m presently on a septic sytem which has been crushed.
The point – in order to file for a permit the sewer district wants a check for $ 18,850.00 this is a retainer in case they deside to run a sewer line around the frontage of my lot (260′) Say 10-20 years from now.
1. I can hook up to an existing line-it is in,it has a “t”,and I have there permission to do so-right after I hand them a check for $18,850.00
2. I’m probably going to have to pay a contractor $10,000 -$20,000 to
lay pipe to the existing main.
3. I feel like I am getting ripped off having pay in advance for permits. Has anyone here ever dealt with this kind of bureaucracy before?
4. I wish I could run a business like that-“That will be a $20,000.Retainer please, and I will get to your deck in a few years, in the meantime feel free to call us anytime”
Seems unfair to me,
Bob
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
This time-tested installation method for flangeless windows ensures smooth operation and provides air, water, and vapor control.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
*
Bob,
Sounds absolutely terrible! It seems you may be the "nail" on this one instead of the hammer. Best of luck in dealing with this.
*Jesus H. Christmas! Are you kidding me? Sewer came past our place 2 years ago, it was $6600.00 for 200' frontage(put on taxes for 15 yrs 5.5%) I called my excavator(county license) and he got permit($500) and did the tie in for $1500 including pumping and crushing tank, laying 150' of 6", and 40' of 4". trench ranged from 4' at the house to 11' at the road, and I paid for gravel($150) to backfill at the house and tie-in locations. So I guess I paid $2150 for my tie-in $6600 for the priviledge. Do they happen to have to blast through granite or something at your location? Or do excavators just make millions? WOW.....
*You crushed your septic system BEFORE you found out what the hookup was???Uncrush that sucker. Never happened. Works as good as the day it was put in.
*That stinks to high heaven!Not just the permit fee but the contractors installation cost. Unless of course you are a quarter mile from the line.Are you sure this is a "permit fee"? It is illegal to charge a fee in excess of reasonable charges incurred in processing a permit. But if it is a "tap fee" then what you are paying for is your portion of thed prorated cost of designing, emenient domaining, and bulding the whole system. I goes, in part, to paying off the bond that made healthy living possible. It seems to me that this must be a tap fee with a built in permit fee but has come to be called a permit fee in the vernacular.On the other hand, if your property was assessed a charge added in taxes when the line was built in the neighborhood, you may have already paid (or a previous owner) and some research is due to determine hopw much you really are liable for. A realestate attorney might be a good investment here. But it should be one familiar with the statutes and history in your area. Nothing muddies the water more than an out of town atty asking questions that go no where.
*Here is the layout of the property-the red line is the proposed sewer hook-up.The red square is the carport that crushed the line.I'm no using the right "t" of the drain field till we hook up to sewer. I cannot repair the drainfield. I have to hook up to sewer.
*You see- I don't have a problem paying for them to put a sewer line around my property when that day comes. But I'm guessing they won't get around to that till I'm in hammer heaven.No one else in my development is interested in hooking up to sewer till they have to.Joe- thanks for your condolencesKieth- thanks for your numbersRalph-really would like to uncrush this suckerPiffin-here is the form
*I see why your contractor needs so much. He has to break and repair pavement which probably takes a bond too. And nobody will want to breathe when he's digging right through the old field. What is the reserve area? Conservation type easement? That might have it's own problems. Still, 10 grand for a couple hundred feet of line? Hmmmm, DEP and EPA must be looking over his shoulder.In Maine it is not allowable to build over a waste water system, partly because of things like this.
*Looks like the permit fee is $40 plus 200.The facility charge for the line maintainance or installation is $1710, based on size of your supply line (you get water FROM them too?)The facility charge for the sewer plant investment and operation is $16,900 (AND THAT'S AT A REDUCED FEE RATRE OF 65 INSTEAD OF 130!)That's my interpretation of it anyway.It's hard to imagine they'd have the gaul to present you with a bill like this without a nice little booklet explaining it all in layman's language.We try hard here to remember that we're here to serve the public. Tap fees =Facility charges can get pretty high in some places because it's expensive to treat according to fed govt guidlines but it's necessary to keep from having typhoid and chollera plagues again. We can all do without bureacratic attitudes though.
*Bob, What is the SF drainfield requirement for your home? If I read your dimensions correctly your remaining undamaged field run is in excess of 200 LF which, based on our trenching width requirements, would yield more than 600SF leaching area. That's more than enough for a single family dwelling. How goes it in your area. Can you just thumb your nose at the powers that be and tell them forget the hookup, I'm still legal??
*They're trying to ram sewer and water down our throats here.It's kind disappointing since I have a functioning septic and having just upgraded my water system. I only did that after they put out some feelers on it told us the interest was not high at that time. About six months later they ran water. Now they are bringing up the issue of sewer again, and it will probably be a go. Seems to me it would make sense to rip the road up once, go figure. Fortunately the water is optional, and depending on where they locate the sewer I may be far enough away for that to be optional. Depending on the fees, and costs it might not make sense to tie in since I don't plan on being here forever.I sympathize with you Bob. Those first couple of dumps are going to be less than satisfying at that rate. If you are more than two hundred feet, can't you put in a new septic?
*It's all a bunch of crap!
*I've seen this before. If I'm right, you never had to pay any assesments for the sewer that you are to hook up to correct? They are going to get your share , as they should. Later, when the neighbors fields go bad, and they lobby for an extension on the line, you will be exempt. Why should you pay now...cause you are using it now. The only premium you are paying for is having to run farther to get to it, when it would be closer, and thus cheaper to get to if it was past your property. I agree with their numbers for the sewer(if they had a small group, needed a pumping station etc. ..the cost per houshold could be high) we had a large group to spred the cost over. I do think the excavator is sticking it too you though. Road crossing or not. We have to backfill sewer taps in road openings with concrete to a depth of 12" below finish street here, and they only cost $5000 for the road opening, plus $8/ft for the lateral to the house(retail) builders get a discount of course.
*Ralph,piffin,Kieth- Thanks for the input I'll post pictures and let you know how it goes later.Bob