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Canton council keeps multi-unit water and sewer billing method after property owner’s request
Summary
Karl Butenhoff, owner of two apartment buildings on East US 52, asked the council to change multi-unit billing from per-rental-unit base charges to a single meter-based base charge per building; the council declined to change practice now, citing an estimated combined annual revenue loss of nearly $11,500 and agreed to reconsider during the 2023 budget process.
Karl Butenhoff, owner of apartments on East US 52, asked the Canton City Council on June 8 to change the city’s billing policy for multi-unit buildings from per-rental-unit base charges to a meter-based schedule with one base charge per building. Butenhoff told the council he purchased the property in January and said the current approach is unfair to owners with a single meter per building.
Mayor Nick Prestby said switching all of the city’s multi-unit accounts to a meter-based system would reduce combined annual Water and Sewer Fund revenues by nearly $11,500 and shift costs to other ratepayers. The council discussed the financial implications and did not adopt any billing changes at the meeting.
Councilmembers agreed to keep the present billing practice in place for now and to give Butenhoff’s proposal further consideration during the 2023 budget planning process. No formal motion to change billing was made or passed at the June 8 meeting.
Background and next steps: the city’s current practice, in place for at least 20 years, applies monthly water and sewer base rate charges based on rental units for multi-unit properties; Butenhoff asked the council to instead charge each building a single monthly base rate when the building is served by a single meter. The council directed discussion of the proposal to the budget process rather than enacting an immediate change.
