Water bills, or a city gone wild (Cape Coral, Iona: to buy, assess)

[nhkev]

Originally Posted by Taratova

If one has a well and also hooked up to city water, can the sprinkler system pump water out of the well to water the lawn ? I heard that if you have city water , your well cannot be used for any purpose.. that city water has to water your lawn and the homeowner has to pay even for the water that keeps the lawn green. anybody know?

We should probably start a thread for this questoin. I'd like to know also

[stahltkd]

Originally Posted by Taratova

If one has a well and also hooked up to city water, can the sprinkler system pump water out of the well to water the lawn ? I heard that if you have city water , your well cannot be used for any purpose.. that city water has to water your lawn and the homeowner has to pay even for the water that keeps the lawn green. anybody know?

I know in the SE, we run both. We have the city water/sewer and the irrigation system. The irrigation system is charged 10.00/mo for "unlimited" use.

http://www.capecoral.net/Portals/0/S...Rev4-20-04.pdf

[CCRESI]

I've seen homes on city, use their well for irrigation.

[rikoshaprl]

Here is a comprehensive article on the history of Cape Coral's water management:
http://www.fwrj.com/techarticles/0909%20FWRJ_tech2.pdf
It doesn't answer the question regarding using your well if you are on city water.

[THasson]

We're in the SE Cape. We are on city drinking water/sewer, but use our original well for irrigation and for topping up the pool.

As far as costs go, during dry season it's pretty much a (pardon the pun) "wash". City irrigation would run me around $9/month. Running the well pump 2-3 times a week for lawn irrigation and pool costs me about $8/month.

But during rainy season I save because I can turn off the sprinklers and seldom need to fill the pool

Just my situation, FWIW...

[CCRESI]

Thasson- please don't drink the sewer I love rainy season! Everything is so green.

[nhkev]

the newspress did a better job explaining this issue and here's what it is. they are looking to impose a $328 yearly fee for 20 yrs on vacant lots that have city water and sewer available. All lots that have city water and sewer (whether built on or not) were subject to an assessment for city utilities. lots that had homes on them or have been since built were charged an impact fee. What the city is looking to do is charge the vacant lots their impact fees now.

Whether this is fair or not is one question. personally being a vacant land owner it wouldn't bother me because my plan is to build on my gulf access lot and I am planning on trying to do things over a period of years to make it less of a burden when I finally break ground. so I had my original purchase, then put in a seawall and dock. Now that I have all that paid off , I'm waiting for the city utilities and hopefully will be able to pay cash for them and avoid interest charges, then if I could prepay impact fees it would actually work out good. And for anyone looking to sell it will be just like the current assessments. if paid in full would be a selling feature, if balance is still owed it would be assumed by buyer. To the people who say they can't afford the extra $328 a year then maybe you should sell because you're not going to be able to afford to build on it if you can't afford the extra $328 especially since taxes have gone down huge on vacant land the past couple years. (my taxes went from $5,000 down to $1600 during this time period) So free up the land for someone who will build if you can't afford $328.

the other issue : is it wise to take future income to pay off past debts?

[Izmack]

Thanks for summarizing. Wise or not, I'm not sure what another viable solution would be?

Originally Posted by nhkev

the newspress did a better job explaining this issue and here's what it is. they are looking to impose a $328 yearly fee for 20 yrs on vacant lots that have city water and sewer available. All lots that have city water and sewer (whether built on or not) were subject to an assessment for city utilities. lots that had homes on them or have been since built were charged an impact fee. What the city is looking to do is charge the vacant lots their impact fees now.

Whether this is fair or not is one question. personally being a vacant land owner it wouldn't bother me because my plan is to build on my gulf access lot and I am planning on trying to do things over a period of years to make it less of a burden when I finally break ground. so I had my original purchase, then put in a seawall and dock. Now that I have all that paid off , I'm waiting for the city utilities and hopefully will be able to pay cash for them and avoid interest charges, then if I could prepay impact fees it would actually work out good. And for anyone looking to sell it will be just like the current assessments. if paid in full would be a selling feature, if balance is still owed it would be assumed by buyer. To the people who say they can't afford the extra $328 a year then maybe you should sell because you're not going to be able to afford to build on it if you can't afford the extra $328 especially since taxes have gone down huge on vacant land the past couple years. (my taxes went from $5,000 down to $1600 during this time period) So free up the land for someone who will build if you can't afford $328.

the other issue : is it wise to take future income to pay off past debts?

[equalrightsforeveryone]

Originally Posted by CCRESI

I've seen homes on city, use their well for irrigation.

The point is they still have to pay whether they use the well or not.
If you are on full water and sewer you pay, if you use water or not.
Everybody that has city water knows this.

[CCRESI]

Originally Posted by equalrightsforeveryone

The point is they still have to pay whether they use the well or not.
If you are on full water and sewer you pay, if you use water or not.
Everybody that has city water knows this.

Yes, they still pay. Never said they didn't.