Drowning in rate increases

Drowning in rate increases

EDITOR:

With gasoline, natural gas and electric costs steadily on the rise (not to mention food and practically everything else) I have felt like a minnow swimming in an ocean full of sharks for a few years now. I am sure that most people with children at home already consider water a major expense, especially in the suburbs. The Water District has been slipping in small raises for the last eight years and I have the old bills to prove it. These small raises have become very noticeable by now. Well, it seems we haven’t seen anything yet, because these people who have never seen a raise they did not like are not even close to the end of the increases.

If you don’t feel like you’re drowning yet, you may in the very near future with their new plan, which raises rates 8.75 percent in just three weeks and over 50 percent in the next four years. My normal bill right now is $42, even with a small discount for a homestead exemption (this includes the sewer charge, which is obscene). I am definitely not looking forward to the future. If the county or township officials are wondering why they can’t get tax levies passed they don’t have to look very far. You just cant get blood from a stone.

RAY MAGGIANETTI

Austintown