After hearing from mobile home park owners in October that high water bills may cause them to close the park, the City of Saluda restructured how it charges base fees for each lot in the park.
Saluda City Council met Tuesday, Nov. 12 and unanimously approved the new structure of rates. Garren’s Trailer Park owner Sheila Garren came to council in October and said the city charges for the water usage at the park and a separate fee for each lot, even if the lot is not occupied.
“It’s been so hard lately we’ve had to consider closing the trailer park,” Garren told commissioners in October, “which is going to leave people homeless. It’s going to destroy us.”
Saluda Water Commissioner George Sweet told Garren in October he would love to come and speak with her about the water bills.
Grady and Sheila Garren own the park, which is located on Pace Street.
Sweet reported to council during last week’s meeting that in the past the city had a number of mobile homes in the park with each having its own meter. The tenant was responsible for the water bill. It was a continuing problem for the city, Sweet said, because tenants would move out and not pay the water bill, and the city was constantly cutting service on and off for tenants there. An arrangement was made with the Garrens that the city would install one meter for the park and the Garrens would pay the water bill as well as a base fee for each lot.
“What that does is it causes their bill to be $750 to $1,000 a month, of which $625 is base fee,” Sweet said. “At the moment they only have five trailers occupied so they are paying the base fee on 22 trailers. That’s given them extreme financial difficulty.”
Sweet said he wanted to help them and suggested Saluda make an agreement with the Garrens where they report to the city each month how many lots are occupied and the city then will charge the park base fees accordingly. Sweet said if five lots are occupied instead of 22, that’s going to reduce their bill roughly $450. It will mean less revenue for the city, Sweet said, but on the other hand it will probably help the Garrens stay in business.