Regarding Jeanne Herold’s letter (“Enough of these rising water bills,” Auburn Reporter, May 4): The rates on her bill go up so the City can buy computer upgrades, etc. and increase the employees’ salaries. Folks get a raise even though they are not consistently doing work above their job description, nor are they producing better and better work.

My problem is that the City punishes me for being an acutely responsible “non-consumer.” My weekly household trash output is just half a plastic grocery bag, or less. I have the smallest trash can the City “allows,” but it is still too large. I have no trees or real shrubs on my property, so I use the yard waste container once a month.

I don’t subscribe to magazines or newspapers; got the junk mail down to a manageable size and use the recycling container once every two months, but I still must pay for non-use.

I reduce, reuse, repurpose, recycle everything. But the City of Auburn still insists on punishing me.

Greed – the religion of America.

– Molly Graece