Whitby man fears his free-water deal dried up
Handshake agreement with now-deceased mayor sparks homeowner’s dispute with Durham Region Council
He built his house on a corduroy road in the Whitby countryside, where he got water from a well and had his own septic field as he had done all his life.
It was 1966 and Michael Gray was starting a family of his own in the country, where the water was free and impossibly cold from its origin deep in the ground. There was always lots of water, enough for the laundry from a family of four and plenty for washing the car and topping up the backyard pool.
But in the 1980s, as new subdivisions crept closer and excavation disturbed the water table, Gray’s water supply began running dry after a morning shower. He complained to then-Whitby mayor Bob Attersley, a local hockey hero, and Attersley came out to see for himself.
“We stood in my yard and he said, ‘We buggered up your water table so we’ll give you free water’ — and he did,” recalled Gray.
“For the next few months, the town sent a water truck out to fill up our well, until they realized how expensive that was getting.”
Then Attersley proposed a compromise; forget the well and we’ll run a pipe from the neighbouring subdivision to provide you water, but we won’t charge you. We won’t even install a water meter. “That was a different age, where you could believe a person on a handshake,” noted Gray, now 73. “There was never anything in writing, but the people in the engineering department certainly knew and there was a work order at the time for installing the pipe. “For 27 years, we never got a water bill.” But when another subdivision crept up to his property line in 2014, workers stumbled across Gray’s off-the-grid pipe and his gentleman’s deal was suddenly in the spotlight. Trouble was, Attersley had passed away in 2010.
“So they sent me a bill for more than $800 in back charges for water so I went to Durham Region and said ‘You’re breaching a contract with me.’ ”
Local politicians felt badly, said Oshawa Councillor Bob Chapman, so Durham Region’s finance and administration committee threw out the bill for back charges and decided to start charging him only the $37 monthly flat rate everyone pays to cover water service costs such as hydrants and water safety testing.
No dice, argued Gray, who has run a sewing-machine store in Oshawa for half a century. A deal’s a deal. Free means free.
“I know they think they’re giving me a break and maybe they are — some people have told me their water bills can be as high as $300 — but it’s the principle of the whole thing. Somebody made an agreement and the new politicians won’t stand by it.”
In March, he appealed to Durham Region Council to forgive all fees, but while some were sympathetic, council voted 21-7 to keep charging him the monthly $37 service fee.
Last week, Gray got a letter saying the charge takes effect in April but there will be no water meter installed “until I cease to live there. So I’m going to hang around as long as I can, because whoever moves in next will have to install a water meter.”
Still, Durham Region is still honouring Gray’s old deal, insisted Chapman.
“Mr. Gray was upset and rightly so, but we have to consider the good of everyone. Yes, he’s paying the flat rate for services, but no matter how much water he uses to wash dishes or clothes or fill the pool, he’s still getting his water for free.”