A police officer just dropped off our water bill
A police officer just dropped off our water bill
We have lived here for the last 10 years. We always pay our water bill. Occasionally, we'll forget and receive a final notice for our water bill which we will promptly pay.
Tonight at 8 pm, a city police officer banged on our door with a blinding flashlight in hand. Made me verify my identification and then handed me my water bill (the due date being a week from now)
What the hell!
I'm guessing this is in the U.S.? Where I live water is paid through yearly property taxes, along with garbage and other services from the city. Nobody around me has ever seen a "water bill". Businesses pay for the amount of water they use, but citizens all pay an annual flat rate through their taxes and can use as much water as they want, unless there are temporary restrictions.
Sorry to hear about your dystopia.
I'm sure the next person on that police officer's list is a billionaire that's doing tax evasion.
I don't live in the US, where I live specifically we have water at a flat rate like you but in other areas of the country there are water meters and people get water bills.
There is talk that we may have water meters in my city soon. I'm actually looking forward to it. People think it's a new bill they didn't have before but really it's a different way of paying the same bill. The bonus is that if you cut your water usage (or were already a low user) you can reduce your bill and pay less than you did before.
The other reason it's a good thing is that it's estimated a huge proportion of our water is lost to underground leaks on private property. Without water meters they have no way to track down what property has the leak, so property owners aren't even aware they are there.
It's like that pretty much in every US city.
I grew up in a rural area where we don't have water bills because our homes have individual wells and septic tanks
Water bills were a weird thing to adjust to when I first moved to the city
That actually sounds like a great way to get people wasting a lot of water. Are you somewhere wet?
Yes, I do live in a place that has lots of fresh water, we do use a lot, and yes, if people were paying for the amount of water they use, they would waste less
However, do you know who is using even more water than citizens? Corporations. And they pay even less.
In one region alone, 18 businesses are using more than 75 000 litres *every day", representing billions of litres of water in a year, and combined, they paid $192 000 CAD in 2019.
Before making citizens pay for every drop of water they use, and accusing them of "wasting" water, I'd first turn my attention to corporations taking our resource for peanuts.
Water is a right, not a commodity.
Water is so cheap though.
As in, if you use a lot of power you'll notice your bill is expensive.
When you use a lot of water it costs a few dollars.
In Australia tap water is (generally) a government service. We pay a set annual fee for the connection, and then a rate per kL. That rate is $2 AUD per kL for the first 150 kL.
Average full time wage is about $1,000 AUD per week after taxes.
Incidentally our water meter is broken and only records a tiny portion of our actual water usage, but our family of 4 probably uses 500L a day, 15kL a month.
If we were to double our usage that's $30 a month so it's just not really a noticable cost.
Personally, I'd rather pay for my usage. I've lived in an apartment complex where they didn't have a meter for every apattment and let me tell you, the second people around here don't directly pay for their own usage it seems like they just waste water on purpose. I couldn't figure out how these people used up that much water based on my previous typical monthly usage.
I wish people weren't that way.
Maybe the post office fucked something up so he has to deliver it?
How would a cop even acquire your mail in the first place?
All I can guess is like, the cop had to pick up the job cuz someone else was sick or something???
Weird lol.
maybe he used it as an excuse to approach you and maybe check some things
Well that’s dystopian as fuck… unless it’s like a really small town and like one dude is the mayor, sheriff, town treasurer and champion hotdog eater. Then it becomes a simple matter of necessity.
It is a small-ish town, but in the 8 years we have lived here we've never had a police officer deliver a water bill or anyone for that matter, especially at 8 at night
With an authoritative tone he told me to "Make you pay that in the morning"
According to the bill he handed me, it's due in a week
Made me wonder how many other people he harassed tonight
Does the city own the water company? It seems pretty petty and weird and kind of a resource management issue. I doubt the cop was thrilled about it either… most of them do like to think of themselves as crime fighters not debt collectors.
I’d call the police station or the water company and ask. I might even call the local paper and mention that you’re being harassed. I can’t count how many times I paid a water bill late in my 20’s… actually had them come out and pull the whole valve out and cap the supply line. 😅
Never got a visit from the police.
Maybe it accidentally went to his house and he was delivering it?
I do the same with my water bill! It's my only bill that won't do auto pay, so sometimes it gets forgotten. 🤷🏻♂️