Sewer bills paid for 20 years but house had no service

February 21, 2009 by Jeff Aydelette

Owners of a home in Bayboro have been dutifully paying a monthly sewer system bill for almost 20 years even though wastewater from the house flows into an on-site septic system.

In Pamlico County, all homeowners who receive sewer service are billed based upon water usage. An in-ground meter logs county-supplied water flowing into a residence. Theoretically, that amount must eventually leave the home, through drains and flushes, in roughly equal measure. And, as every sewer customer in the county has come to realize, drastically different usage rates make disposal of wastewater through a sewer hook-up almost three times more costly than potable water received on the front end.

Use of a septic system, where permitted, completely avoids sewer charges.

Last week, during a meeting of the supervisory board for Bay River Metropolitan Sewerage District, executive director Art Hough acknowledged the billing error. He confirmed an inspection of the property indicates the house at 206 Water Street has absolutely no connections or other links to the pipes, tanks, and conduits of the sewer system.

“Evidently we started billing them by mistake when all of the other houses on that street got locked into the billing cycle,” explained board vice chairman Ed Riggs Jr.

Mike Monk Jr., representing current homeowner and first cousin Dorothy Monk McKever, did not ask for a refund of the back charges, estimated by Hough at some $1,600.

“We would have gone back all 20 years (to calculate),” said Hough, “but we couldn’t because in 1999 the water system switched over to a different type of software.”

In lieu of a payment or credit, Monk, appearing on behalf of McKever, requested a waiver of all expense now required to hook the modest home onto the sewer system. Hough estimated that outlay -- for a completely new tap -- at approximately $9,000. The latest figure has grown exponentially over the past two decades.

“I remember back then residents along Water Street could get hooked in to the sewer if they paid $50,” said Rich, a long-time sewer board member who conducted the initial surveys of many Bayboro homeowners.

The board, bemused and more than a bit embarrassed, quickly agreed Monk’s request for a waiver was fair and equitable. As the board voted unanimously to OK the all-expenses paid hookup, Riggs drew chuckles when he joked:

“Mr. Monk and his family have been exceptionally good customers,” he laughed. “Especially when you consider that everything they paid has been all profit for us. And, its probably the only profit Bay River has had in many years.”

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