Water rate increase

EDITOR:

On Thursday I attended the county commissioners meeting regarding the increase in water rates for five districts in Douglas County. I was very disappointed the commissioners voted to go forward with the proposed increases. The district I live in, Fairgrounds-Sunrise Estates, is faced with a 319.28 percent increase fro 2011. It gets worse by 2014 the increase will be 989.91 percent. The average water bill in our district will go from $45.10 a month to $189.09 a month in 2011. The real kicker is in 2014 the average water bill will be $491.55. The wells in our community have high levels of arsenic.

When we purchased our home in 2001 the wells were adequate, but the EPA has since lowered the acceptable levels so the county commissioners decided to connect us to the Fairgrounds well at the cost of 2.5 million dollars. How can 32 homeowners absorb this? We can't, some of my neighbors are going to be forced into foreclosure because of their increased water bill. I asked the commissioners why they didn't consolidate into one water district.

Recently they spent $200,000 on a consolidation study. The response I got from Chairman Mike Olson was no one but a gentleman from East Valley showed up to that meeting. The gentleman from East Valley was against it, so I guess he has a lot of pull. I didn't receive a notice that said we will be deciding on consolidation of the water systems in Douglas County, if this doesn't pass your water may increase by 989.91 percent. By the way this gentleman from East Valley also was protesting his water bill increase, $3.71 a month in 2011. By 2014 he'll be paying a whopping $11.96 a month more.

Tammy DeGiovanni

Gardnerville