“We’ve Got Those Low-Down, Dirty Rotten Water/Sewer/Recycling/Garbage Bill Blues"

Cry Baby Network having a bawl...

We knew it was coming, but, man, oh, man, it’s something else to actually see those new $42+ higher quarterly totals we owe Norwood Public Service on the latest, harmless-looking, blue and white cards that came in the mail recently. Sewer rate is up 8.6%, and water is up 8%. The relatively smaller garbage fee increase starting 2/7/07 will show up on the next bill. What are real, live, not-rich, maybe retired and living-on-a-fixed-income homeowners trying to hang on to do? A moment of serious silence between sobs, please, for the truly struggling.

But wait…maybe hope is on the horizon. Maybe this will all wash out with a less than 8-mill levy renewal or...gasp...no levy on the August ballot. So far, Mr. Schneider is on the record here against the renewal, and Mr. Moore at Tuesday’s COW meeting feels he's leaning towards lower millage for August. Keep it up, fellas, and let’s hope the rest of your colleagues head in your direction. A couple of self-proclaimed and pretty reliable local historians, whose collective memories predate ours, have always maintained the original 8-mill levy (passed many but an unknown number of years ago) was to pay for garbage pickup, which we’ve all been paying for individually for a couple of years now. If true, is it reasonable to expect the millage for trash collection to be rolled off completely? Those two local historians certainly think so, but then, how many of our current council actually remember or know the 8-mill levy history (assuming it’s correct) and will seriously consider axing this levy once and for all?

Still, let’s keep hope alive!