As reported in the Houston Chronicle on April 7, 2010, (See Entire Article At This Link: www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/6947305.html, under Mayor Annise Parker's plan to dramatically increase city water and sewer fees, the fees for residential home owners will be increased by 12.5% while the same fees for multifamily properties will be increased over 50%. Although "across all classes of ratepayers, including multifamily and commercial users, the proposed increase comes to about 25 percent," multifamily properties will be carrying a disproportionate share of the burden.
Apparently, there is no practical reason for this disparity other than the fact that there may be more registered voters and political donors in the home owner population than among the renters. The practical effect is that the people least able to afford such an increase will be paying for homeowners to water their grass and fill their swimming pools.
This approach to making up budget deficits sets a dangerous precedent for all of multifamily housing and must be thwarted.