City Council Meeting Date: August 4, 2025
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Ben Martig, City Administrator
Title
Discussion of Multi-Family Water Meter Ordinance (Councilor Dahlen Request).
Body
Action Requested:
None recommended at this meeting.
Summary Report:
Councilor Dahlen provided the following information related to interest in an ordinance amendment related to water metering for multi-family units.
Legislative Goal:
It shall be the policy of the city that no one who pays from a water meter should pay more for water and sewer than anyone else in the city of Northfield, and that the meter be subject to visual inspection or radio confirmation in order to carry out leak detection.
Legislative History
When the new owners of Viking Terrace (Lakeshore) took over, they instituted an across the board rent increase of $200 per lot. Essentially in 2023, the rent was 400 and in 2024 the monthly rental fee became $600 for a lot. Most of the lots have a single-wide Mobile Home (or manufactured home) on the lot. The home itself is owned by the resident. Lakeshore owns the land upon which it sits, plus the surrounding land.
The population of Viking Terrace is unknown, but is projected to be around 400 or 500 (173 homes X 2.5 persons per home.)
In 2025, instead of increasing rent again, Lakeshore announced that they would not seek an increase in rent in 2025, but would install water meters and have residents pay their own water and sewer bill. The payment for water and sewer had previously (perhaps, decades long) been part of the monthly lot rental.
Lakeshore sent out the first bills on May 1, 2025. The bills, which residents submitted to various persons, show the following:
1. Instead of the city's 7.48 gallons (or cubic fee) measuring of use, the Lakeshore bills in increments of 1,000 gallons. It appears that if a resident uses 1001 gallons, Lakeshore rounds up, and the resident pays at the 2000 gallons mark. The rates ascend: 2001...
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