Who in Ohio Benefits From Another Sewer District?

Do the mailed surveys seeking support for another sewer district in Indian River really have have a return address in Ohio?

The proposed new Indian River Sewer District would encompass every house, cottage, building, and empty lot not served by the existing sewer from the Indian River south to the Sturgeon River and west to Burt Lake. Hundreds of properties, some small, some large, and everyone will pay whether you gain any benefit or not. At what cost? The Tuscarora Board discussed this and the consensus was definitely more, and probably much-much more than the $8,000 REU the existing system users were charged. The numerous streets, existing utilities, lack of alleyways, and other factors too numerous to list will mean far higher costs.

 Ask any of those homeowners on the east side of Juno Street or others how much they spent to pump out a working septic system, crush or backfill the tank, and how much it then cost to hire a contractor to hook-up to the sewer. Then add the initial $8,000 per residence (REU) buy-in and the monthly sewer fee. That monthly fee has already seen the first annual increase to $27.50 per month for O & M costs in an attempt to meet USDA budget recommendations. Everyone pays every month, whether you flush the toilet or not, effectively subsidizing the year round users.

Feasibility studies often have no more accuracy than a fortuneteller looking into a crystal ball. In 2008, Fleis & Vandenbrink Engineering told Northport that it anticipated their new plant would be treating 110,000 gallons of sewage per day upon initial flow in 2008. Six years later, the average was 83,336 gpd in July 2014 and only 42,724 gpd in December of 2014.  Much like Tuscarora Township, the Northport/Leelanau Township Utilities Authority has increased fees to help offset mounting costs. Their fee went from $15,900 to $16,588 per REU in July 2014 with a 3 percent increase every year attempting to cover increasing costs and the optimistic forecasts for growth that were never realized.

Club Road Sewer Leak by Dan's Auto Repair

The Tuscarora Township Board, now dealing everyday with their ill-conceived and poorly planned sewer district wants to share the misery. The First Amendment protects our right to free speech and the right to petition our government.   Local government boards usually allow three minutes of free speech at a time unless an individual is brown-nosing some local officials and they are enjoying the public massage. Petitions work in the same way. One citizen-authored petition might garner a support of the majority of those directly benefiting and be killed by a board. 

A verbal massage of the right people, the Tuscarora Board, might gain board support for another petition seeking an unneeded and costly infrastructure project that once again benefits a select few including apparently Dave Diebel who owns the largest contiguous parcel in the proposed district. A Special Assessment District again approved and established by land area and billed by parcel.   

 Bob Kramer sucks up to the leaders

Listen as Bob Kramer, the nephew of Dave Diebel, attempts to schmooze the Tuscarora Township Board currying favor and gain support for the feasibility study with no out-of-pocket cost to the proponents. Does he ever mention new Sewer District??