In August 2007, residents from the Lea and West hills voted to become annexed into the City of Auburn. Prior to that action, the Auburn City Council said it would not consider annexing these PAAs (potential annexation areas) unless it could be done so as to prevent adverse financial impact to the city’s current residents.

Now the City Council is raising our rates for water and storm drainage almost 10 percent.

And guess what? According to Councilman Rich Wagner, the largest reason for this increase is because when West and Lea hills were annexed, the City of Auburn lost an estimated $850,000 in outside city surcharges.

Don’t they take these things into consideration? And if so, why didn’t they let the residents of Auburn know about the revenue loss that would accompany this annexation and what it would cost us?

I sure hope these guys don’t quit their day jobs.

– Chester H. Wells Jr.