How to fight your local government (Ohio)
The general health district in Clermont County Ohio has a program called their Basic System Assessment. This is where they go around to every resident in the county that is NOT hooked up to the public sewer system and "assess" the condition of their on-site sewage system (in my case, a septic tank & leach lines) every 38 months. Well, they have an amazing number of "failing systems", of which they require complete replacement (an average of $25,000 - $35,000 per system all their permitting and re-assessment fees). As for the BSA itself, they charge you $30 to come inspect, then $45/mo. for each month your system goes without the "required" replacement. This year, they chose to do their inspections in May (Southern Ohio got 18" ABOVE the average rainfall for May during this time) - soggy yards everywhere - and EVERY house on my ENTIRE street failed the inspection. I have since paid a professional inspection company to come inspect our system and they said they can't find a single problem. No seepage, no odor, no nothing! The county does not publish the "laws" for this inspection, and there is no appeals process. How does one go about fighting something like this? How can the county force me to spend $25,000 to replace a system that is only 20 years old, and that an independent, licensed company has said there is no problem with? Any ideas?
Public Comments
- Call your news reporters, your representatives. Sounds like a total scam to me ........ a way for your jurisdiction to make a lot of money.
- higher someone to do an inspection for you. if you can get another inspector out there and they see nothing wrong then you have proof that they are just trying to take your money. also if your neighbors do the same and their inspector passes their systems you will then have a class action law-suite.
