Commercial or residential

I have a question concerning whether or not a trailer park in a village with it’s own water system is considered commercial or residential as far as charging for water. Currently there are meters on each trailer and everyone pays their own water bill. There are also 2 meters before the trailers that measure for differences, which there have been, and the cost of the difference has always been paid by the owner of the whole park (the village made an offer to have water turned off in every trailer to check and see if the entrance meters run to check for leaks, and if there is proof of no leaks then they would stop charging the difference). If the park was recently bought as commercial property does it in turn have to be considered commercial for water billing? Who legally makes the decision as to whether the water is billed commercial or residential, the owner or the village?

Small Town

What is the property zoned?

Check local utility laws in regards to submetering and charging for water.

Check with the local water company for the answers to your questions. Commercial water rates and residential rates can vary.

I dont understand what you are saying about commercial or residential.

Are you going for a zoning change. Is the property zoned commercial/ residential overlay?

If you let us know what state you are in I am sure we have an expert on this forum that can answer your questions

Rick

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply, the Holiday season is a crazy time. I’m in Ohio. Our town has no zoning laws. Basically it’s a owner vs water board on how it should be charged. It’s always been billed as residential, but I’m curious as to how towns with no zoning handle a situation where the town wants to keep residential billing and the owner would like commercial billing (where they pay the bill and then bill each tenant in their rent).

If I am reading this correctly, the tenants are currently paying the water bill directly to the water authority right?

This is the scenario most park owners desire. Why in the world would you want the headache of billing and collecting water from tenants yourself? This is a huge pain and generally a loss of time (reading meters and collecting) as well as money. People who pay their own water bills generally use a great deal less water and if they don’t pay the city or whoever is supplying the water has the authority to cut their water off.

Maybe I misread but if I didn’t, go with the flow on this one.

Tony

Thanks for the answer on this one Tony, I appreciate it greatly!