Barry Weeks has nothing against flushing.

He does it every day. But he doesn’t want to pay $40,000 to have his same toilets flush in the same way — to a new destination.

“These costs are astronomical,” said Weeks, who owns a two-bedroom home. “That $40,000 is a quarter of the value of my house.”

Weeks and other Lake Elmo residents have known for years that the city’s first sewers were coming. They heard about other projects, involving water, street and wastewater improvements.

But the bills for many projects are arriving at the same time in a town that has never had citywide sewer, water or wastewater systems. Some property owners find the total staggering.

The iconic Lake Elmo Inn will pay more than $500,000. Gorman’s Restaurant, the only other downtown eatery, will pay $300,000.

Both owners say the sewer-related work might flush them out of business.

“This is an extortion fee I pay for the privilege of hooking onto the sewer,” said restaurant owner Ed Gorman. “And then I pay a monthly bill after that.”

In most city and suburban neighborhoods, the infrastructure — streets, curbs, sewers and wastewater systems — is built before the houses. The houses are lined up close together to share costs and close to streets to save the cost of the connecting pipes.

The cost to homeowners is usually factored into the cost of the land and paid off with a mortgage.

But Lake Elmo wasn’t built that way. The city has never had a sewer system. Houses could be built anywhere, each served by its own septic system. Some homes are scattered on multi-acre lots, while others are staggered in city lots of various sizes.

Mayor Mike Pearson said that after decades of temporary delays, the city must tackle all the improvements at once. “This is the final solution,” he said. “This is the worst plan, except for all the other ones.”

Property owners have been told they will be paying about $14,000 for the new sewers, per private home.

They will pay separately for the pipes connecting their house to the new sewer pipe.

They will pay to have their septic systems sealed — another $6,000 for an average home.

They will also be paying the city for new streets, built over the sewers.

They will be paying for the city’s first wastewater system, which handles rain and snow runoff.

They will pay for new city water mains, some of which are more than 50 years old.

Finally, the improvements mean the assessed valuation of their properties will rise. That, of course, means higher taxes.

It’s all too much, too fast, according to homeowner Weeks.

“This project is ridiculous,” he said.

RURAL NO MORE

Some homeowners are blaming the nostalgia of previous city officials who clung to an outdated image of Lake Elmo as a rural farming community.

Beginning in the 1970s, city officials fought to preserve the city’s rural character, which they said was threatened by sewers and development. Related Articles July 9, 2015 In another political spat, Lake Elmo freezes new home construction

December 4, 2014 Lake Elmo to outline street, sewer projects at open house

June 27, 2014 Septic tanks are going down the drain in Lake Elmo, elsewhere in Minnesota

May 3, 2014 Sewers matter. Proof? Lake Elmo’s surging developments

They fought all the way to the state Supreme Court to prevent sewer-connected development ordered by the Metropolitan Council. The city lost that fight in 2004 and 12 years later is just getting started with sewer-connected housing.

The delay has been costly. Lake Elmo’s neighbors were building streets and sewers in the 1980s, when construction costs were less than half what they are today, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics.

Now, 21st century utilities are being built in a 19th century town.

The high bills are rattling City Hall, as property owners blame elected officials.

Restaurant owner Gorman says his fees totaling $300,000 will be crippling.

“We are not Chili’s. We are not a $2-million-a-year-grossing restaurant. We are not one of the big boys,” he said.

The Met Council sets commercial sewer rates according to the maximum number of people who might be in a business.

Gorman says this is unfair. If a house uses an average of 250 gallons a day, he asks, and his restaurant uses three times that amount, shouldn’t his bill be three times more?

Wrong. It’s 16 times more. That is because the charges are based on the maximum seating capacity, not on actual water consumption.

“I am meeting with the family to decide what to do,” Gorman said. Going out of business, he said, “is one option. We are not forced to stay in business, I guarantee you that.”

Lake Elmo Inn owner John Schiltz recalls advocating for the sewer. “The sewer was coming one way or the other. It is needed. People have failing septic systems.”

But he didn’t anticipate the cost. Based on seating capacity, his restaurant is being charged 23 times more than an individual homeowner.

“It is such an unfair system. It could put us out of business,” Schiltz said.

SOME SAVINGS, BIG COSTS

Mayor Pearson is sympathetic to such complaints.

But he said the city has received $1 million from the state to defray the cost of the improvements, which is lowering the cost for homeowners. In some neighborhoods, he said, “100 percent” of property owners welcome the improvements.

The sewer will bring some savings for Christ Lutheran Church, in the historic downtown area. The church won’t have to spend $3,500 a year to pump out its septic tanks, according to Jim Lohmann, chairman of the board of property.

But he recently had to present the projected costs to the church board. They were $200,000.

“I said, ‘Here are the numbers.’ They said, ‘Oh, goodness gracious!’ ”

Jerry Kromschroeder, however, can’t see the benefits — only the cost.

He owns Village Hair Care, which has been assessed at $100,000 and now faces $30,000 in sewer-related costs.

“I don’t like it. It adds no value to my property,” he said.

His wife died last year, and he promised her he would keep the 36-year-old shop running to save the jobs of his four stylists.

“I want to be loyal to her and the girls,” said Kromschroeder, his voice cracking. “I am doing my damnedest to make sure that closing is not an option.”