The reason why so many businesses here in Charleston

[China_cat]

do not have sprinkler systems retrofitted. I was blown away to read these numbers

From the Charleston Post and Courier:

A sprinkler system typically costs about $2 per square foot, about the same as carpet, industry officials say. But the Charleston Water System requires that business owners pay impact fees ranging from $28,800 to $56,900 for the most common pipeline connection sizes.

The utility also charges tap fees, which pay for the cost of a water meter and pipes from the system's pipeline network to a customer's plumbing. These tap fees range from $14,000 to $20,000 for common pipeline sizes.

The utility then charges a monthly fee, $227.50 a month for the most common connection size, even if no water is used. (That's on top of your normal water and sewer charges...just for putting water to the sprinklers)

[yy4me]

1. Got to enrich the city coffers, I guess. These fees are beyond

anything that could be called reasonable. As a small businessman, I would put in 50 smoke detectors, stock up on fire extinguishers, keep my insurance up to date and cross my fingers.

This is town sanctioned price gouging.

[China_cat]

2. And it's the main reason we just lost 9 firemen.