By Brooke Beare
CBS 2 News
There's always a price to pay for progress but is seventeen thousand dollars too much?
A group of homeowners in Thousand Palms will shell out about that much to upgrade their septic systems to sewers.
This sewer project stalled twice before so some Thousand Palms residents were surprised to learn that within a two month time frame the assessment passed and they are now responsible for a five figure bill.
Here's a look at how the vote breaks down. 771 parcels are included in the district. However only 209 property owners returned ballots of those 123 people voted for the district and 86 voted no. According to the Coachella Valley Water District under state law that's enough of a majority to pass the assessment. However some homeowners say renters got the ballots and tossed them out that could explain why so few ballots were returned.
The area affected is just west of Ramon Road and south of 30th. Because the project passed so quickly some homeowners weren't able to plan ahead and just recently made septic repairs. Some costing three thousand dollars or more. Of course that's nothing compared to the huge bill that's coming in three weeks.
Almost eleven thousand for the sewer system another thirty five hundred start-up fee and then additional plumbing costs.
