Family protesting dead man’s water bill, city says no break

When Canadian man Allister MacPherson died suddenly in his bathroom on September 28, 2011, he didn’t have the foresight to turn off the water faucet he had been using at the time. Perhaps dying took precedent over the menial task of stopping the flow of water. However, the Port Colborne, Ontario man didn’t turn the water off as he died and the water continued to run out until his body was found – three weeks later.

Well, tough luck says the city.  Council wants the family to pay the full $600 water bill in MacPherson’s name. The family has asked for a break in the cost, stating the obvious, he died suddenly and wasn’t able to turn the water off.  However, city officials aren’t too keen on the idea and while they haven’t made a decision it seems like some of them are scoffing at the idea of giving the family a discount or forgiving the bill.

Mayor Vance Badawey seems to think the idea is ridiculous and has challenged them to ask the same of other service providers. “I’d like to see their (other companies) responses,” he said in an interview with CNews. For the record Bell Canada, MacPherson’s telephone provider, has given a discount.

The city’s director of community and corporate services, Peter Senese, doesn’t seem so snarky in his reasoning. To him, waiving the bill would mean other tax payers would have to cover the costs.  Makes sense but let’s see what that breaks down to… Census says in 2006 the population of Port Colborne was 18,599 which would mean each citizen would be paying roughly .04 of a dollar (yes, four cents) to cover the cost of the dead man’s running water for the three weeks before anyone could find him.

Wonder how much each tax payer doles out to cover your business lunches? Perhaps this should be brought up when the family has to bring the issue to a City Council meeting as they’ve been informed this is the only way they can plead their case. Just a thought. Source.