Proposed changes to water billing in Hamlet’s trailer park are drawing concern from its owner. The town has proposed doing away with the meters at individual trailers and sending one big water bill to the entire Country Acres property.
During Wednesday’s town council meeting, President Dave Kesvormas said it would eliminate a lot of work for town employees, since that’s where the bulk of the water shutoffs and frozen meters happen. “We fight with it every winter,” Kesvormas said. “We send notice down there, tell folks to put heat tape on it. ‘Uh huh.’ And next thing you know, the first freeze we have, they’re texting Kevin on Facebook saying, ‘My water’s frozen. I’ve got babies.’ And Kevin, he’s a good kid and everything. He doesn’t want to say no. I wouldn’t want to say no, either, because that puts us in a bad situation, when they throw that they have kids or elderly or something like that. Nobody wants to go without water.”
But Country Acres’ attorney, Todd Wallsmith, argued that it’s easier for the town to turn off water if residents don’t pay than it is for the trailer park to collect the debt, and the trailer park can’t expect to make a lot of money by handling the water. “The idea of doubling their water bill so that we can cover our expenses there, although it’s nice, isn’t actually, probably, legally feasible,” Wallsmith added.
In the end, town officials agreed to continue exploring other options, such as charging a higher deposit for renters who don’t have as good of a credit history. Go here to fix bad credit rating now.
