I recently received a “Notice of Proposed Rate Change” from Woodmark Utilities Inc. dba Liberty Water Company. The envelope’s return address is Bella Vista Water Company, 4055 Campus Drive, Sierra Vista, AZ 85635-2262. They want the sewer rates raised from $40.40 a month to $47.76 a month, an increase of over eight percent. This increase effects the people that live in the Stoneridge, Oak Hurst, Meadow View, Meadow West, Colony West, Colony, Baker Plantation, Cooks Crossing, Vanderbilt Ranch, Royal Oaks, Walnut Hill Addition, Baker West, Cedar Valley, outskirts of Flint area, Sherwood Forest, Pine Crest Mobile Home Park, Oasis South, Running Meadows, Running Meadows West, West Haven, Southern Trace, Flintridge and Star Canyon.

Isn’t an 8 percent raise too much in this economy? Residents of Tyler pay less than $12 for sewer service. Why do people in the county have to pay over $40 and are being ask to pay an additional $7.36? If 10 percent of the customers protest this increase, we have a chance of stopping this increase. Please e-mail the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality at ac@tceq.state.tx.us and tell them to put a halt to this increase. The snail mail address is Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Water Supply Division, Utilities & Districts Section, MC 153, P.O. Box 13087, Austin Texas 78711-3087.

Terry Mann