SEELEY LAKE - At the Seeley Lake Sewer Board meeting Oct. 19, Greg Robertson announced that he was changing the assessment methodology to using equal assessments for residences and businesses. The Pathfinder article also said that this would level the playing field for the notice and protest and ALL lots in each phase would have EQUAL WEIGHT to their protest instead of commercial lots having a greater say. Besides that, the board and general manager completely missed the point of what the complaining about their original plan for charges was. The complaint occurred because residences were being labeled businesses and thus being charged twice. No one was suggesting that residences and businesses ought to pay the same charges. Equity means fair and just, which the district ought to be seeking. Equality means the same, which is not always equity.
BUT, in the next paragraph they say Phase 1 will have a greater voice in the notice and protest due to it being assessed for both treatment plant and collection system. Phase 1 does not deserve an extra “vote”, as they have ALL the benefits of having use of the sewer, while Phases 2, 3, and 4 are paying fees and are getting NOTHING.
Giving Phase 1 extra weight during the notice and protest is just another way to try to give some people (businesses maybe?) more say so to support the sewer. What happened to equality-much less equity? We are either going to be treated fairly or not.
PS—We need the engineering design plan for ALL phases, including each lot. How can we make a sound decision without them?
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