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Maybe if the city would cut spending and quit building swimming pools and repaving functional bike trails like the on ein Latham park an increase wouldn't be necessary.

There was plenty of money when times were good, why weren't infrastructure improvements made then?

This is the way our City Council raises taxes without having a so called tax increase.

How about them General Fund balances?

I guess Mike Baron (Greensboro's former water conservation manager) is not looking quite so "criminally insane" these days, eh?

There be some EXPENSIVE bass in that lake;)

http://damscam.blogspot.com/

My prediction -- Greensboro residents can expect a healthy increase each and every year and maybe twice a year. Amazing that there are no protests to these increases and residents just accept it and do not question this increase. When the mayor and a councilman stress the need for water rate increases, no need for discussion or further explanation from the city staff. The city staff would not mislead you, now would they?

While we are at it, why can't the city bill me for the gallons I use instead of consumption units? It's a lot easier to conserve a gallon here and a gallon there than it is to save 748 gallons(one consumption unit). I was told by the water department that the city "rounds up or down" your consumption unit based on gallon usage. So if someone is monitoring by gallons, why can't the city show me the gallons used on my bill, then convert it to consumption units for billing? That way, you would get a more accurate picture of usage and exact water charges. I get the feeling someone is peeing on my leg and telling me it's raining!

Actually, tax increases and the general fund have little to do with water rates. The Water Resources department operates out of its own enterprise fund, meaning they charge for the service they provide and keep the money separate from the general fund. Money generated from water bills goes to Water Resources, not to the general fund for things like swimming pools, bike trails, and back door tax increases. In fact, moving money between those two funds, called commingling of funds, is illegal.

Did city council forget that they wanted to waive homeowners as being responsible for water bills that tenants left behind. This is a way to make up for that loss. It used to be if a tenant left behind any type of balance on an address, the person who owns the property was responsible for the bill. Now that is not the case. They are losing a lot of revenue this way. The people in the water department even admitted this. I think they should track down the offenders or try and cross reference their names at others addresses to make them pay. The citizens across the board shouldn't be held responsible for this decision. Homeowners were getting the bad end of the deal, now we all are getting the bad end of the deal.

Mad Dog is right -- we have no idea how much water we're actually using. 748 gallons is a lot of water; if I use 375 gallons they charge me for the other 375 that I didn't use? Ridiculous. They are taking us for idiots -- it's indicative of the total lack of TRUST in government these days, including Greensboro's.

Here we go again... Figures don't lie; but liars figure. It seems to me that many years ago, the county of Guilford was in dire staits. Water shortages abounded. Water was being borrowed from Burlington/Alamance County. Then, the dam to end all dams was built on the Deep River to give Guilford County and Greensboro a mighty supply of water. Why is it, now that things appear to be in good supply, that Greensboro sees fit to wring money out of its citizens for the water they use? Why not bill all of those businesses who are using water to accomodate all of those transient sales tax payers? For years it was stated, we need a coliseum to attract more people. Also, our visitors (more people) help fund our monetary needs by paying our sales tax. I guess there's a monetary shortfall from "more people". So, it's time for the local people to cough up more money to pay for poor planning and good old Greensboro bragging rights. Oh Yeah!! What about all of those commercial entities who are watering their grass in the rain? What about the same folks who don't maitain their irrigation? They use water inefficiently; and they send their deficient usage onto the streets and into the drains.