Homeowners: What do you pay for Garbage, Sewer, Water monthly ??

Naturally

Naturally

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Homeowners: What do you pay for Garbage, Sewer, Water monthly ?? ... Just curious

Our city combines all garbage, sewer, water charges on one monthly bill
My bill this month is ... $67.12 ... but is variable depending on monthly gallons of water usage

I think there should only be three(3) line charges on the bill ... garbage, sewer, water
But they tack on taxes and fees that seem made up add-ons
Maybe some charge changes require a public vote and some line items can be added on by the city council
Dunno


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Those living "in the country" outside of Municipal constraints and on well water and septic must see quite the savings !!!

Growing up, we lived in the country and hauled off our garbage on a trailer to the dump in one trip about every 3-4 months.
We burned the paper garbage.
If I lived there today, looks like I could give myself an $800+ savings each year.
 

Naturally said:
Growing up, we lived in the country and hauled off our garbage on a trailer to the dump in one trip about every 3-4 months.
We burned the paper garbage.
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100% the same for me growing up... well water, septic tank, and garbage to the dump. Hated that dump so bad when I was in the car to drop the trash off. It was down over a steep bank and one time it caught on fire and I convinced myself that it was actually hell and the devil lived there. Sitting on the edge of my seat until we pulled away so the ugly red guy wouldn't start climbing out. :rolleyes:
 
[off topic]
Even though we lived "in the country", my parents worked in town ... so we went to schools in town. That was okay in grammar school but once in high school I kind of wished I hopped on the county school bus that went past our house every school day. The country boys and girls were much more fun ;)
[/off topic]
 
Naturally said:
Those living "in the country" outside of Municipal constraints and on well water and septic must see quite the savings !!!
Click to expand...

I felt that way when I lived in the country and had well and septic, but I wonder how much savings there really were, because in addition to the normal maintenance of having the tank pumped every couple years, the septic pump motor had to be replaced twice in 12 years and one time it took hiring a couple different people to find someone who knew how our type of system worked, and in the other property our whole septic field and tanks had to be replaced when the old field developed some problem and we had to install a new system that met the modern regulations.

Plus there was the cost of water treatment for the yucky well water. Although I never thought about it, the well pump and pressure tank must have added a bit to the cost for electricity. And although we were lucky with our wells, I remember in my retirement planning I was checking expected lifespan and replacement costs for well pumps and pressure tanks and it was not cheap.

But certainly in the month to month bills it was nice to 'not have to pay anything for water and sewer'.
 
Naturally said:
Those living "in the country" outside of Municipal constraints and on well water and septic must see quite the savings !!!

Growing up, we lived in the country and hauled off our garbage on a trailer to the dump in one trip about every 3-4 months.
We burned the paper garbage.
If I lived there today, looks like I could give myself an $800+ savings each year.
Click to expand...
Consider perhaps that your septic field could fail or your well runs dry or water quality degrades will snap you back to reality. Those are the worst outcomes, but septic needs cleaned every 3-5 years, well pumps and associated equipment fails and you have to pay to pump the water from the bottom of the well. In the this scenario you never know how big a bill you might be hit with completely out of the blue.

Any major capital improvements required on city services are spread over a lot of people and typically paid for over decades in the future through property taxes. In your case you have a $70/month fixed cost w gradual increases. The grass isn't always greener and I'd say you picked a winner.

I retired to a nice place w underground power, natural gas, city water and sewer. It's better by far than overhead power lines, well, septic, propane, and fuel oil.

Edit to add Honey Nut beat me to it and I forgot about water treatment, although I still have water conditioner on my city water.
 
HoneyNut said:
I felt that way when I lived in the country and had well and septic, but I wonder how much savings there really were, because in addition to the normal maintenance of having the tank pumped every couple years, the septic pump motor had to be replaced twice in 12 years and one time it took hiring a couple different people to find someone who knew how our type of system worked, and in the other property our whole septic field and tanks had to be replaced when the old field developed some problem and we had to install a new system that met the modern regulations.

Plus there was the cost of water treatment for the yucky well water. Although I never thought about it, the well pump and pressure tank must have added a bit to the cost for electricity. And although we were lucky with our wells, I remember in my retirement planning I was checking expected lifespan and replacement costs for well pumps and pressure tanks and it was not cheap.

But certainly in the month to month bills it was nice to 'not have to pay anything for water and sewer'.
Click to expand...

Good points @HoneyNut !!!

My dad was inclined to fix things himself. In 20yrs, he had to dig up and replace the septic field lines once and he borrowed a pipe puller when the water pump foot quit working and he had to pull up close to 400ft of well water pipe to replace the foot on the end of all that pipe.

We did have to pay for a tank truck to come and pump out the septic tank but I only remember that happening once or twice in all those years. Guess the septic field lines handled things pretty well.

We never had our well water tested, but from 400ft down, it was pretty good and had lots of minerals. The first time I donated blood after I turned 18, the nurse took a drop of blood and dropped it into a tube of liquid. She said it was to see if I was anemic. The drop of my blood plummeted directly to the bottom of the tube without a pause. She said I had enough iron in my blood for three people :oops:
 
againstthegrain said:
Any major capital improvements required on city services are spread over a lot of people and typically paid for over decades in the future through property taxes. In your case you have a $70/month fixed cost w gradual increases. The grass isn't always greener and I'd say you picked a winner.

I retired to a nice place w underground power, natural gas, city water and sewer. It's better by far than overhead power lines, well, septic, propane, and fuel oil.

Edit to add Honey Nut beat me to it and I forgot about water treatment, although I still have water conditioner on my city water.
Click to expand...

So how much a month are you paying for water, sewer and garbage ??

I'm totally and completely exempt from property taxes by age and income. But that is a city by city, county by county case and not a state wide deal.

... I think I did pick a winner ;) ... at least as good as it gets in most towns.
 
Naturally said:
So how much a month are you paying for water, sewer and garbage ??

I'm totally and completely exempt from property taxes by age and income. But that is a city by city, county by county case and not a state wide deal.

... I think I did pick a winner ;) ... at least as good as it gets in most towns.
Click to expand...
I have no idea, that's wifey's department!

But I certainly can remember how much replacing the well pump cost!
 
We're getting a new garbage company starting in August. I've been paying $61.38/3 months. The new company will be charging $92.00/3 months.

My sewage bill is $47.50 every month; water is iffy....not sure from one month to the next what it will be. The meter was not working from the day we moved here in Feb., 2022 but they said they read it "manually" and it was always around $73/month. They replaced the meter in October, 2023. I questioned them about the billing but they said it had been accurate. They also changed their web site and I couldn't go back to look at previous billings because it wasn't there any more. Aqua is the worse company and their rates are going up 30%.
 

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