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City is knocking on my door for $5000.

B

brandonb

Diamond Member
Thats right. They are being communists. They are redoing all the streets in the city, and sent out a survey asking each household what things should be done during the street reconstruction. Everything from gas lines, sewer lines, etc. I want them to do absolutely nothing and my survey indicates that.

Now they are coming back and saying based on the responses, each household is going to have to pitch in $5000 for this street repair... All of them. So, looks like everybody is going to have the same bill, no matter what you listed in the survey.

Do you think they'll let me redo my survey to include everything?

Do I have any options to opt-out or to get out of this? I don't exactly have $5000 laying around. They are going to have a meeting on Oct 18th for citizens to come to city hall to ask about payment plans, etc. I figure I'll go with my pitchfork, but honestly, what are my options if any?
 
where the fuck do you live?

what are they gonna do if you don't pay? foreclose on your street?
 
a city near my place did this, except it was almost 10k$. this is for a street where houses are worth 40-80k$, with a lot of retired folk, and almost no one had that kind of money to pay. too bad. you either payed up all at once, or could have it distributed over 5 years of city tax.
 
That makes zero sense. I've never heard of a random city in the U.S. sending a letter to all homeowners (whether it's a neighborhood, street, or whole city) telling them they had to pay 5k.

One of several conclusions can be drawn:

a) Your full of shit.
b) Your butchering the shit out of the original story/letter/statement
c) It's not the city its an HOA.
d) You can't read or listen. (i.e. Your "you have to pay 5k" statement is actually, taxes will be raised to generate 5k from each household over the next 5 years, or whatever)

I call bullshit in you having to cut a check for 5K
 
its no lie that things happen like this, i'm friends with a guy who it happened to. it was everyone on a particular street in a town about 20 miles away from me. they were one of the only places in the town not connected to the sewer (still septic), so they all had to pay to get connected to sewer. no other option except to try to sell the house.
 
i refuse to believe what OP is saying. it's full on illegal to do this. you can't tax if you're not the local/state/national gov.
 
You can op out of it by selling your house and move to some place like Arkansas, Mississippi, West Virginia, Alabama and Louisiana for the cheap property tax. Or, move to some back water country that have virtually no public service and is riddle with crimes that have no property tax.

Louisiana Property Tax Information (2011)

The median property tax in Louisiana is $243.00 per year for a home worth the median value of $135,400.00. Louisiana counties collect an average of 0.18% of a property's estimated fair market value as property tax.
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I suppose you don't have to pay. The city also doesn't have to connect you to said services.

"Unfit for human habitation." Enjoy your eviction!
 
OP needs to post the letter so that we can see what it actually means.

I find it very plausible, though. Ultimately somebody has to pay for it and taxes in general may not be tailored such that they can cover major utility projects that affect only a small percentage of their base. I am extremely surprised that in this recession enough homeowners would be able to pony $5000 for such a thing unless it's a wealthy hood or there are some very pressing needs (like kids are playing in sewers that continually overrun and the roads are caving in all the time swallowing cars).
 
This is done more commonly than you think. Generally, I've only heard of this done in cases where a neighborhood was being plumbed for city water versus well, sewer system in place of leach fields, etc.. Note.. The water mains also provide hydrants.

So this is legit. Sucks to be the homeowner.
 
Wow that sucks. What's the point of paying taxes then? I'd be fuming. I could see if this was a condo and it was the condo owner redoing the roof or something, but when it's a house and you're paying taxes? Makes no sense to me.
 
Shens! Outside of paving, lighting, maintaining the roadway if the street was a private way. Utilities, etc would all be provided.
 
LookBehindYou said:
That makes zero sense. I've never heard of a random city in the U.S. sending a letter to all homeowners (whether it's a neighborhood, street, or whole city) telling them they had to pay 5k.

One of several conclusions can be drawn:

a) Your full of shit.
b) Your butchering the shit out of the original story/letter/statement
c) It's not the city its an HOA.
d) You can't read or listen. (i.e. Your "you have to pay 5k" statement is actually, taxes will be raised to generate 5k from each household over the next 5 years, or whatever)

I call bullshit in you having to cut a check for 5K
Click to expand...

The county is doing it to me right now. We use septic systems and 2 local businesses dont' have any land to replace theirs. They petitioned the county to put in public sewers. The county accepted and in order to pay for the 4 million it will cost, they ran the sewer to get about 200 homes in the area. They now want me to pay a $1500.00 connection fee + $85.00 a month to flush my toilet. No water in that fee, just sewer. Not to mention most plumbers want 3-6 thousand just to hook you up to the system. The county will allow you to opt out for up to 5 years, but the connection fee goes up 2k every year and you are forced to pay a $25.00 a month access fee.

We have been fighting it and we are losing. I don't have 7500.00 just free for a pointless service I don't need, and I know I won't have 17500.00 in 5 years to hook up when it's mandatory. Also at $85.00 a month, I can afford to have my septic system pumped every 3 months. The fee's are outrageous and all to make 2 grocery stores happy. They of course bear much less of the cost and are the only ones who benefit from this. My wife and I have started boycotting all local businesses who support the sewer system and drive an extra 5 miles to do our shopping. Over 95% of the homes included have signed a petition against the sewer system, but it's happening anyways.

A side note, in the letter they sent out they included a threat. If the sewer system gets canceled, the costs so far in planning (about 1.5 million) will be charged to the home owners who would have been effected. Not the whole county, just the 200 homes.....We are already discussing class action lawsuits.
 
OP, you have the right to see any and all paperwork pertaining to the city's decision on what services they plan on installing/upgrading, how they determined the cost, and how they determined who pays what. If there's a group of people up in arms about this, take it to a lawyer, who can interpret the legal gibberish much easier than you can, and put it into layman's terms. They can also tell you whether there's any way out of paying, and whether you have a snowball's chance in hell of winning a lawsuit.

Friends of mine built their house about 6 years ago, and the city wanted to jack them for thousands of dollars for installing curbs and gutters, and thousands more for putting in a sidewalk. Never mind the fact that while they were building within city limits, it was actually out in the country, where NONE of the neighbors have curbs, gutters or sidewalks! 🙄

My friends had to do the research to find out that they could appeal the fee, if less than 15% of the people on their street had these things, and they successfully fought having to pay the fees. :thumbsup:
 
sourceninja said:
The county is doing it to me right now. We use septic systems and 2 local businesses dont' have any land to replace theirs. They petitioned the county to put in public sewers. The county accepted and in order to pay for the 4 million it will cost, they ran the sewer to get about 200 homes in the area. They now want me to pay a $1500.00 connection fee + $85.00 a month to flush my toilet. No water in that fee, just sewer. Not to mention most plumbers want 3-6 thousand just to hook you up to the system. The county will allow you to opt out for up to 5 years, but the connection fee goes up 2k every year and you are forced to pay a $25.00 a month access fee.

We have been fighting it and we are losing. I don't have 7500.00 just free for a pointless service I don't need, and I know I won't have 17500.00 in 5 years to hook up when it's mandatory. Also at $85.00 a month, I can afford to have my septic system pumped every 3 months. The fee's are outrageous and all to make 2 grocery stores happy. They of course bear much less of the cost and are the only ones who benefit from this. My wife and I have started boycotting all local businesses who support the sewer system and drive an extra 5 miles to do our shopping. Over 95% of the homes included have signed a petition against the sewer system, but it's happening anyways.

A side note, in the letter they sent out they included a threat. If the sewer system gets canceled, the costs so far in planning (about 1.5 million) will be charged to the home owners who would have been effected. Not the whole county, just the 200 homes.....We are already discussing class action lawsuits.
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Sh*t like this makes people go off the rails.
 
Yes, it's legal, and yes, it happens all the time. I've known it to put poor folks out of their homes in the country when the local municipality decides to do a special assessment to pave a road, or put in a natural gas line. It hits farmers especially hard, because much of the time the planners base it on road frontage.

Sucks, but the taxes you pay are for maintaining what you have. Putting in a natural gas line or paving a road costs big money.
 
The ATOT lawyers are in rare form today. This happens all the time ... why is anyone surprised? If you live in a community guess what ... you are part of that community and liable for "improvements" to that community. Move out into the country, onto land with no restrictions if you want to be free of things like this.

True story: My friend's daughter owned a townhome in a condo complex. The HOA decided that the entire community needed new roofs. Those homeowners who either would not or could not pay lost their homes.

End of story ...
 
sourceninja said:
The county is doing it to me right now. We use septic systems and 2 local businesses dont' have any land to replace theirs. They petitioned the county to put in public sewers. The county accepted and in order to pay for the 4 million it will cost, they ran the sewer to get about 200 homes in the area. They now want me to pay a $1500.00 connection fee + $85.00 a month to flush my toilet. No water in that fee, just sewer. Not to mention most plumbers want 3-6 thousand just to hook you up to the system. The county will allow you to opt out for up to 5 years, but the connection fee goes up 2k every year and you are forced to pay a $25.00 a month access fee.

We have been fighting it and we are losing. I don't have 7500.00 just free for a pointless service I don't need, and I know I won't have 17500.00 in 5 years to hook up when it's mandatory. Also at $85.00 a month, I can afford to have my septic system pumped every 3 months. The fee's are outrageous and all to make 2 grocery stores happy. They of course bear much less of the cost and are the only ones who benefit from this. My wife and I have started boycotting all local businesses who support the sewer system and drive an extra 5 miles to do our shopping. Over 95% of the homes included have signed a petition against the sewer system, but it's happening anyways.

A side note, in the letter they sent out they included a threat. If the sewer system gets canceled, the costs so far in planning (about 1.5 million) will be charged to the home owners who would have been effected. Not the whole county, just the 200 homes.....We are already discussing class action lawsuits.
Click to expand...

Do you live in a rural area? How rural is it? Dont forget to include the new grocery stores in your lawsuit!

In the meantime I would consider moving, although you have to disclose the potential sewer liabilities.
 
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