Editorial...Who Pays for Water Theft?
What happens when the city shuts off a water valve, removes the meter, and then someone else turns the water back on each summer for five years, to water the grass in a common area.
No bill is sent because the city thinks the valve is turned off, and no meter is present. The watering goes on for 63 months to the tune of $10,424.83, estimated by the city. A bill is sent to the Homeowners Association and if they don't pay up by March 5 they will be sued. They also get a bill for $5,008 for the tap fee and water deposit.
What would you do? In this case, the Cedar Oaks LLC Homeowners Association has officers and our hunt would go first to them, demanding to know who authorized the turn on each summer without a meter. Who was hired to turn on the water? Ignorance is no excuse, but on the other hand, the homeowners themselves didn't exactly steal the water. They paid their individual portions for their homes, one would assume. There is room for wiggling on both sides. We would go hat in hand to the next GMSA meeting and ask for some kind of settlement…pay part of the bill over a certain period, from increases passed on to the homeowners, and hopefully get a portion waived by GMSA. (Of course they might get a lecture from Councilman Larry Parham about what a great person the developer is, as Parham did at the last Council meeting).
But then there is another theft, this one much more serious. Sometime in 1990 a six inch water line was connected to a two inch line, without a meter or a record of a tap, to water another common area in the same development. This involves a theft of about $40,000 in water, says the city, resulting in a bill being sent to the original developer, Frank Hallacy, who now lives in Arizona. We understand that tapping into a six inch line is not something an ordinary plumber could do. And why would he risk his license.
So who did it? The developer's contractor? GMSA employees working on private developer deals, working after hours, something that went on for more than 12 years? This amounts to outright theft and the city should do everything possible to recover the funds involved, including lawsuits and an investigation by the District Attorney. (this isn't likely)
The city is losing 32-37% of its water right now, and not being paid. There may be additional cases where people are taking water from the Grove system, without paying for it. These should be tracked down and bills should be sent. The city should periodically check every meter or valve in existence, turned off or not, and have the cheaters arrested. Good government demands it.
Then, all of us can expect a reduction in water rates.
No bill is sent because the city thinks the valve is turned off, and no meter is present. The watering goes on for 63 months to the tune of $10,424.83, estimated by the city. A bill is sent to the Homeowners Association and if they don't pay up by March 5 they will be sued. They also get a bill for $5,008 for the tap fee and water deposit.
What would you do? In this case, the Cedar Oaks LLC Homeowners Association has officers and our hunt would go first to them, demanding to know who authorized the turn on each summer without a meter. Who was hired to turn on the water? Ignorance is no excuse, but on the other hand, the homeowners themselves didn't exactly steal the water. They paid their individual portions for their homes, one would assume. There is room for wiggling on both sides. We would go hat in hand to the next GMSA meeting and ask for some kind of settlement…pay part of the bill over a certain period, from increases passed on to the homeowners, and hopefully get a portion waived by GMSA. (Of course they might get a lecture from Councilman Larry Parham about what a great person the developer is, as Parham did at the last Council meeting).
But then there is another theft, this one much more serious. Sometime in 1990 a six inch water line was connected to a two inch line, without a meter or a record of a tap, to water another common area in the same development. This involves a theft of about $40,000 in water, says the city, resulting in a bill being sent to the original developer, Frank Hallacy, who now lives in Arizona. We understand that tapping into a six inch line is not something an ordinary plumber could do. And why would he risk his license.
So who did it? The developer's contractor? GMSA employees working on private developer deals, working after hours, something that went on for more than 12 years? This amounts to outright theft and the city should do everything possible to recover the funds involved, including lawsuits and an investigation by the District Attorney. (this isn't likely)
The city is losing 32-37% of its water right now, and not being paid. There may be additional cases where people are taking water from the Grove system, without paying for it. These should be tracked down and bills should be sent. The city should periodically check every meter or valve in existence, turned off or not, and have the cheaters arrested. Good government demands it.
Then, all of us can expect a reduction in water rates.
posted by Editor | 1:42 AM
5 Comments:
Who can prove that anyone removed the meter. No doubt it was never there. In fact, there are places like that all over town. That is where the water goes. The City does not monitor theirs, so they cannot deduct that amount from the loss. What about the old library. is there a meter there now?
Hallacy was not the original owner, so get your facts straight. This is nothing but an Election item, to make the City Manager look good. Not so. The only way to 'check' is to check each dwelling, not each meter. Deals were made in the past and NO meters installed -- so start checking for that. NO RECORD was kept, I'll bet. -- Now I suppose you will want to take this one out.
TO the above post
"It's better to remain silent and thought a FOOL than to speak out and remove all doubt"
Quoted by Abraham Lincoln
ditto dddd04
LMAO!!!!
Keep up the good work on the water theft. A theft of $50,000 should be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted. Why is it taking so long to bring Simmons to court? That $885,000 has been outstanding since last fall. I believe we could use some of these collections to fund a aquatic park.
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