$800 water bill a shocker for La Conner homeowner

When Allen Sackett received his La Conner town water bill, he thought it was $12.

It wasn’t until he opened it all the way he saw it was actually $812.32.

“That’s crazy!” Sackett said. During the month of May, Sackett was fixing up the townhouse he had lived in for 15 years, getting it ready for sale.

He said although he was not living there, while rebuilding the deck the longest gap he was gone during the month was two days. He said hadn’t used any water during May and “I checked every night,” Sackett said, to make sure nothing was left on.

He had also recently paid for an inspection of the house, that did not report any water leaks.

Sackett’s big bill is not an exceptional case, Town Administrator John Doyle said. There have been substantially higher bills when people leave their faucets running, he said.

The town ran five gallons of water through Sackett’s meter to make sure it was functioning properly. But Sackett does not think that was enough water to know for sure, he said.

Doyle said they will pull the meter to double-check, but the sample gallons ran through correctly.

In these circumstances, Doyle said, if residents can prove the water was running from an outside faucet, the town can write off a portion of the sewer bill.

But Sackett did not have outside water running at his townhouse. Therefore, an interior leak or faucet running and will be the responsibility of the tenant, since inside water flows to the town’s wastewater treatment plant and is treated as sewage.

“We try to be equitable to everybody, but if they don’t pay it than the people of the town have to pay it,” Doyle said. “We’re sympathetic that it’s a hardship, but it’s really their obligation to make sure it’s paid.”

Sackett was given a billing plan by the city that will be paid back in parts monthly. He still plans to sell the townhouse.

“The thing that gets me is I have no recourse. You just got to pay it,” Sackett said. “If I don’t, they’re gonna shut my water off.”