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Resident asks council to exempt his property from sewer access charge; city staff explains hardship rules
Summary
A Tuscaloosa resident urged the council to exempt his home from a newly applied sewer assessment; city staff said the code allows hardship waivers only for engineering/location issues, not financial inability, and staff will follow up.
Dan England, a resident and former county commissioner, urged the Tuscaloosa City Council during public comment to grant an exemption from a sewer access assessment that recently began appearing on properties not physically connected to the city sewer system.
England said the charge — which he estimated could force him to spend "$5,000 to $10,000" to connect or otherwise pay — fell hardest on lower-income residents and on older homes that were never tied into the sewer when they were built. "I should not pay for service I'm not getting," he told the council.
The council asked staff to respond. Mister Holmes, a city staff member who spoke for the city's legal/engineering standpoint, said the policy has been on the books for decades and can be traced to the city code as far back as 1962. Holmes said the ordinance treats property owners who have the ability to connect as receiving an indirect benefit and therefore subject to the assessment; financial hardship alone is not a basis for a waiver under the current code.
Holmes described the hardship standard used by the city: it is engineering-based (for example, a residence located far back on a large parcel, where the building is substantially farther than a property line that sits within 200 feet of sewer) rather than a test of a homeowner's ability to pay. He told the council that similar practices exist in other municipalities and that the city has defended the policy in prior litigation. Holmes said staff would follow up with England after the meeting to review the property-specific details and clarify any back-fee status.
The mayor noted the procedural limit that people may speak only once at the meeting and asked Holmes to meet with England after the meeting to pursue the matter.
Why it matters: The discussion underlines how the city's code treats properties with access to sewer lines and clarifies that the waiver route is based on geographic/engineering hardship, not financial hardship — a distinction that can affect older, low-income homeowners.
What happens next: City staff said they will follow up with England after the meeting to review his parcel and any applicable waiver process; no change to the ordinance or an immediate council action was taken.
