Dynamo2000
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts
A few years back unfortunately we neglected to pay our water bills and they began to accumulate .
Eventually this led to a meeting between myself and the head of the water department in our municipality
– a suburb of Boston. We worked out a repayment plan in May of 2013 which was put into writing and
signed by the department head and of which I have an original copy. The plan included a $6000 deposit
plus semiannual payments thereafter until the past due balance was paid off. Because we worked out the
payment plan on the spot we unfortunately both made a mistake. Part of the plan was to charge us 14%
annual interest on the outstanding balance. Well, as it turns out the $6000 deposit we made was almost
but not quite enough. The 14% interest was a little more than the semiannual payments we were making,
so the balance actually got a little bigger instead of smaller. Nobody noticed or at least did not say
anything about this until about June of this year.
The head of the water department retired and a new department head was appointed earlier this
year. He looked over the contract and said it is nonbinding for two reasons. Firstly he said that the
“convention” in this municipality is that the head of the water department does not have authority to make
payment plans with individual home owners and that this is something normally handled by the Water
Board. Secondly he said because the agreement was flawed in that based on its terms the bill would never
get paid off it is invalid. He then by way of certified letter demanded that we pay off the balance in full
forthwith or they were going to shut off our water in the near future.
We responded by saying that had we made a larger down payment that the interest on the balance
due would have been less than the semiannual payments and that the past due amount would then get paid
off. We then said we were ready to make such an additional payment (for close to 2/3 of the balance due)
forthwith provided he would still honor the contract. (We do not have and cannot get enough money to
pay off the past due balance in full.) He declined our offer and instead said that he was not going to
handle the matter but instead put it on the agenda to be decided by the Water Board whose meeting is
coming up shortly.
Apparently something insidious has been going on “behind the scenes”. We talked to several
other individuals in the water department in trying to work out some kind of a compromise and who are
also very familiar with the members of the Water Board. “Off the record” we were told that unless we
paid the past due balance in full that the Board was going to try to make our lives miserable. We were
told that besides possibly shutting off our water the Board was going to make us spend thousands of
dollars on changes to our plumbing. We live in a single family house but that also has an “in-law” unit
that was added legally before we moved in some 8 years ago. When the “in-law” unit was added they
also added a second water meter. Houses that use the city sewer system often have two water meters, one
for domestic water use and a second one solely for irrigation that is charged at a lower rate since that
water does not use the sewer system. Our house has a septic system and so there is no benefit (or
detriment) to us by having a second water meter. Well, much to our shock and surprise during our
negotiations we were told that unless we paid the past due in full that the Board in addition to possibly
shutting off our water was going to demand that we take out one of the two meters and we would have to
pay in addition all the costs associated with rerouting the water pipes to go through just one meter – a job
that could easily cost thousands of dollars.
When we pointed out that from both the city’s point of view and our point of view there is no
difference in income we were told they don’t care – since there is no justification for having a second
meter they are going to demand at their next meeting that we have it taken out.
Well, I obviously have a few questions. The first is the legal standing of our original payment
plan? Is it an enforceable contract possibly with an additional payment so that it will end in a timely
manner? Secondly, does the Water Board have the legal right to force us to spend thousands of dollars on
rerouting our plumbing simply because we have no justification for a second water meter although the
income is identical whether there is one or two meters? Lastly, I know legal issues can have very large
“grey areas”. How strong or weak are the two parts of my case: the agreement and the water meter?
A few years back unfortunately we neglected to pay our water bills and they began to accumulate .
Eventually this led to a meeting between myself and the head of the water department in our municipality
– a suburb of Boston. We worked out a repayment plan in May of 2013 which was put into writing and
signed by the department head and of which I have an original copy. The plan included a $6000 deposit
plus semiannual payments thereafter until the past due balance was paid off. Because we worked out the
payment plan on the spot we unfortunately both made a mistake. Part of the plan was to charge us 14%
annual interest on the outstanding balance. Well, as it turns out the $6000 deposit we made was almost
but not quite enough. The 14% interest was a little more than the semiannual payments we were making,
so the balance actually got a little bigger instead of smaller. Nobody noticed or at least did not say
anything about this until about June of this year.
The head of the water department retired and a new department head was appointed earlier this
year. He looked over the contract and said it is nonbinding for two reasons. Firstly he said that the
“convention” in this municipality is that the head of the water department does not have authority to make
payment plans with individual home owners and that this is something normally handled by the Water
Board. Secondly he said because the agreement was flawed in that based on its terms the bill would never
get paid off it is invalid. He then by way of certified letter demanded that we pay off the balance in full
forthwith or they were going to shut off our water in the near future.
We responded by saying that had we made a larger down payment that the interest on the balance
due would have been less than the semiannual payments and that the past due amount would then get paid
off. We then said we were ready to make such an additional payment (for close to 2/3 of the balance due)
forthwith provided he would still honor the contract. (We do not have and cannot get enough money to
pay off the past due balance in full.) He declined our offer and instead said that he was not going to
handle the matter but instead put it on the agenda to be decided by the Water Board whose meeting is
coming up shortly.
Apparently something insidious has been going on “behind the scenes”. We talked to several
other individuals in the water department in trying to work out some kind of a compromise and who are
also very familiar with the members of the Water Board. “Off the record” we were told that unless we
paid the past due balance in full that the Board was going to try to make our lives miserable. We were
told that besides possibly shutting off our water the Board was going to make us spend thousands of
dollars on changes to our plumbing. We live in a single family house but that also has an “in-law” unit
that was added legally before we moved in some 8 years ago. When the “in-law” unit was added they
also added a second water meter. Houses that use the city sewer system often have two water meters, one
for domestic water use and a second one solely for irrigation that is charged at a lower rate since that
water does not use the sewer system. Our house has a septic system and so there is no benefit (or
detriment) to us by having a second water meter. Well, much to our shock and surprise during our
negotiations we were told that unless we paid the past due in full that the Board in addition to possibly
shutting off our water was going to demand that we take out one of the two meters and we would have to
pay in addition all the costs associated with rerouting the water pipes to go through just one meter – a job
that could easily cost thousands of dollars.
When we pointed out that from both the city’s point of view and our point of view there is no
difference in income we were told they don’t care – since there is no justification for having a second
meter they are going to demand at their next meeting that we have it taken out.
Well, I obviously have a few questions. The first is the legal standing of our original payment
plan? Is it an enforceable contract possibly with an additional payment so that it will end in a timely
manner? Secondly, does the Water Board have the legal right to force us to spend thousands of dollars on
rerouting our plumbing simply because we have no justification for a second water meter although the
income is identical whether there is one or two meters? Lastly, I know legal issues can have very large
“grey areas”. How strong or weak are the two parts of my case: the agreement and the water meter?
