My husband and I have lived just down the street from City Hall for more than 35 years.  A little more than a year ago we purchased a unit at Landings Condominium for our daughter, a single mother with a young child. We wanted them to have the stability and security of knowing they have their own place.

For our home we pay the city of Homer a monthly water meter fee for our water meter. At the condo we pay a monthly water meter fee for a water meter that doesn’t exist and probably never will.

For our home we will pay the $3,282 assessment for the one LNG line that was put in for our benefit. At the condo we seem to be expected to pay a full $3,282 assessment for the one LNG line that was put in for the entire building of which I only own 1/17th of.

Every building in the city of Homer, regardless of size or number of occupants, will pay the same $3,200 assessment fee; except for condominiums. City Manager Walt Wrede seems to think it is fair that the Landings Condominium pay 17 times more than any other building in Homer, including all very large hotels and apartment buildings.  Mr. Castner has already taken the city of Homer to court and the judge ruled that this assessment was arbitrary and unfair to the condominium owners. How much more money is Mr. Wrede willing to waste on legal fees pertaining to this issue?  

Why did the Halpins have to sue the city in court to get the city to sit down with them and come up with a fair settlement of their damages?  How much in attorney fees was wasted on that?

Combining the years Mike and I have lived in Homer comes out to more than a century. We have raised our children here. Most of them have stayed and are raising their children here. We love Homer — the place and the people. We do not appreciate special deals, different rules or other unequal treatment that seems to becoming the norm for the city of Homer leadership.

Karen DeVaney