In light of the recent stories about Erie county trying to disband the several villages that exist I wonder if anything can be done to help us fight their code.
We have lived in the village of Alden for 29 years.
We were aware of sewer lines on the opposite side of the street that were installed on building lots approximately 10 years ago to make them more attractive to sell. We inquired about hooking up at that time and were told someday, not to worry about it now.
Three weeks ago we received a letter stating that it has come to their (Board of Trustees), attention that we are in violation of the Village Code and need to hook up to the sewers along with three neighbors at the end of the village. Ordinarily, this would not be a problem, since we do try to follow the law. Upon contacting several plumbers they all seem to feel that since we have to run the pipe under the road, which is a county road, all the additional expense for permits and other things we still are not aware of that it will cost us approximately $20,000 or more.
Upon contacting the village attorney that sent the letter inquiring about some assistance, possibly a Grandfather clause, or the village picking up the part that involves crossing the road, I received a letter that was sent to the four homeowners advising us that the county has a grant program, if you qualify, (which of course we don't), and we could receive up to $5,000 which would actually be a interest free loan that would be payable if we sold the house. Not really helpful.
At this point we are at a loss. We've spent our whole life paying our bills and trying not to live beyond our means, now it appears we will have to take out a large home equity loan to hook up to a sewer, even though we have a perfectly good septic system.
We don't know if there is anything we can do about this, as we went through something similar a couple years after we first moved here with the water lines and our well. Now we have village water, which in essence comes from our own water table, and has chemicals added that prevent the use of a dishwasher with out installing an expensive water softener.
Is there any way to fight this and win? Or would we just be postponing the inevitable and accumulating lawyer fees?
Just thinking that a small number of people can impose such a financial burden on a taxpayer to earn a little extra revenue for their projects through our sewer and water payments is a very bitter pill to swallow, at a time when every thing else just keeps rising in price.
We have lived in the village of Alden for 29 years.
We were aware of sewer lines on the opposite side of the street that were installed on building lots approximately 10 years ago to make them more attractive to sell. We inquired about hooking up at that time and were told someday, not to worry about it now.
Three weeks ago we received a letter stating that it has come to their (Board of Trustees), attention that we are in violation of the Village Code and need to hook up to the sewers along with three neighbors at the end of the village. Ordinarily, this would not be a problem, since we do try to follow the law. Upon contacting several plumbers they all seem to feel that since we have to run the pipe under the road, which is a county road, all the additional expense for permits and other things we still are not aware of that it will cost us approximately $20,000 or more.
Upon contacting the village attorney that sent the letter inquiring about some assistance, possibly a Grandfather clause, or the village picking up the part that involves crossing the road, I received a letter that was sent to the four homeowners advising us that the county has a grant program, if you qualify, (which of course we don't), and we could receive up to $5,000 which would actually be a interest free loan that would be payable if we sold the house. Not really helpful.
At this point we are at a loss. We've spent our whole life paying our bills and trying not to live beyond our means, now it appears we will have to take out a large home equity loan to hook up to a sewer, even though we have a perfectly good septic system.
We don't know if there is anything we can do about this, as we went through something similar a couple years after we first moved here with the water lines and our well. Now we have village water, which in essence comes from our own water table, and has chemicals added that prevent the use of a dishwasher with out installing an expensive water softener.
Is there any way to fight this and win? Or would we just be postponing the inevitable and accumulating lawyer fees?
Just thinking that a small number of people can impose such a financial burden on a taxpayer to earn a little extra revenue for their projects through our sewer and water payments is a very bitter pill to swallow, at a time when every thing else just keeps rising in price.
