One of the elements surrounding the call for “equity” between residential and industrial, commercial and institutional water users is the “unfairness” of homeowners paying more for their water than do the other three categories of user.

Unfairness? How’s this for unfair:

• If you own a residential property worth $300,000, your tax burden will be based on a rate of  .001504 and will work out to approximately $4,500 per year.
• If you own a commercial property worth the same, the rate is .004651 and your property tax bill will be approximately $13,953.
• If you own an industrial property worth $300,000, the rate is .005772 and city hall will want approximately $17,316.

All for a property assessed at the same value. If you’re looking for “equity”, you won’t find any in the city tax department.

As to why industrial users (in particular) might believe they are entitled to a lower water rate than homeowners, consider this:

• If a factory uses 1,000,000 gallons of water, it will likely arrive through no more than a handful of connections to the local water main.
• Any waste water will exit through a handful of sewer connections.
• If a subdivision uses 1,000,000 gallons of water, it will arrive through dozens, perhaps, hundreds of connections to the local water main
• And getting rid of the waste water will require a similar number of sewer connections

Which user costs the city more for service installation and maintenance- the one with a handful of pipes and connections or the one with hundreds?

An interest in being “fair and equitable” would suggest residential rates should be a lot higher than they are, and rates for industrial users even lower.

So let’s be honest about why tax rates are skewed the way they are are – because that’s what the market will bear, not because there’s anything equitable about it.