Two residents in Pataskala's The Oaks subdivision are angry that they have to pay the capacity fee to hook into the city's sewer system when their neighbors' fees have been waived.

Jean Mauger, 96 Hickory Drive, and Paul Boster, 200 Hickory, confronted council members Nov. 16 to ask why they were left out of the decision to waive residents' $3,150 capacity fees to join the city's system.

According to city administrator Timothy Boland, the two homes are not part of the city's larger Oaks sewer assessment project because they have been able to join the existing sewer lines that were installed in the 1960s.

"Council had a special meeting on Oct. 16 and discussed and ultimately waived the capacity fee for those properties that were in Oaks that were in the assessment project," Boland said. "The two property owners that were at the meeting this past Monday É were property owners that had an existing public sewer accessible to their properties, so they made the determination to connect to the existing sewer (so) they would not be part of the assessment project."

Boland said he understands that the Maugers and the Bosters want council members to reconsider their decision and look at waiving their capacity fees, which they both already paid to the city.

Mauger said it was much less expensive for her family to tie into the existing line, which, she said, is about 10 feet from her home, than it would have been had she joined the assessment project.

"If you can tie in cheaper than some $20,000, why not do it?" she asked.

She said she did not know about the special meeting in October because she was on a two-week vacation.

"When I came home from vacation and read in the newspaper that the capacity fee had been waived for The Oaks, I was excited," Mauger said. "I talked to my neighbor, and she said, 'Oh, no, no, there was a resolution.' We were not able to speak against that because we were not there. It was done in the two weeks we were gone. We had no way to seek redress."

Though Mauger and her family paid less to hook into the service, she said she believes she and her family should not be assessed the capacity fee because her neighbors are not being charged.

"How can you take two people out?" she asked. "I thought it sounded discriminatory."

Boster said he started researching the process of hooking into the sewer system in 2002. Like Mauger, he said he feels segregated from the rest of the development.

"It's a sad state when two property owners are singled out and set aside and treated like second-class citizens," he said.

Boland said the Oaks assessment project has not been finalized yet, in terms of the number of homes that will be included and the total cost of the project for each resident.

Earlier this month, ThisWeek reported that the city was estimating construction to cost about $400,000.

The city plans to pay 2 percent of the cost and assess the residents for the remainder.

The individual assessments are estimated at $13,910 to $14,920, based on the estimated 36 homes in the project.

Boland said those figures are not set in stone, though. He said he expects the project to go out to bid over the winter months -- the most competitive time for bidding -- and hopes to know the complete cost of the project by spring.

"The next step that council needs to take is to pass ... a resolution of necessity that would determine the exact number of single-family units that would be included in the project," he said.

He said he expects council to revisit the capacity-wavier issue during its next meeting, scheduled for Dec. 7.