Water Bill

We received our first water bill in the mail today.  Not an exciting topic in itself, but I did find it interesting.  Water bills are not determined by the amount of water you use, but the property value of your place.  The bill was through the end of March 2011 and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how they could estimate how much water we would use through March.  After careful reading of the enclosed leaflet we find out that no one is billed off of actual usage unless you specifically request to have a water meter installed.  After you have the meter installed if you're happier with your prior rates you can go back to your old method of payment.  Not so sure how I feel about this and also found it a bit ironic that three pages on conserving water followed the pages that explained you pay the same no mater how much water you use.