Reading The Courier will save me over $3,000 over the next 10 years! This morning I was reading the article about the utility rate increases for Alamosa ratepayers.  One of the examples was a “senior” ratepayer whose rates were increasing by such and such. It got me to thinking. I had never heard that seniors had a different rate than ordinary citizens. I looked at the Public Works web site and could not find any information in the rate table about a senior discount. I could not find that information on a copy of my bill either. 

So I drove down to City Hall and asked the finance department if they gave discounts to seniors. They do. It amounts to 20 percent of the water, sewer & trash collection fee. The city finance director agreed that the difficulty of finding this discount was a fair criticism of transparency.

So, if you are a ratepayer in the city, please go down to the department today and apply. It is a simple form. And I’ll be waiting for a thank you letter from the city for the past two years that I overpaid. 

Sincerely,

Don Kanen