New homes that are under construction will no longer be assessed sewage fees, the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury voted at its regular meeting Thursday.

After a house is built, if it is not being lived in, a $15 monthly fee will be assessed up to 2,000 gallons. If water use exceeds 2,000 gallons, the fee will rise to $35. Once the home is occupied, normal rates will apply.

“The premise behind it is we do not want to be regressive with subdivision development,” Police Juror Shannon Spell said. “The way the ordinance was originally set up, we were going to be billing for sewer treatment before the house officially got on the market, which kind of penalized developers a little bit.

“All things being equal, that doesn’t seem level or equitable.”

Spell said discussions were held with developers and members of the water board. The 2,000-gallon cap was set so that the incentive will not be taken advantage of, he said.

“Even though it’s going on the market, it still may be empty because it hasn’t been sold, so we go to a reduced rate of $15 per month to try to assist the developers while they’re trying to turn the house onto the market,” Spell said.

“But you don’t want that to go on forever because then it’s not equitable for the taxpayers that own the treatment system.”

If lots in a development are less than an acre, the developer must provide a sewer system, Spell said. But once the development is completed and if the system is built to parish standards, the sewer system may be turned over to the parish for operation and maintenance, he said.

“We are in undiscovered country with sewer treatment,” Spell said. “There are going to be things that we probably need to iron out and smooth out as we go.”(MGNonline)