Published: June 08, 2007 12:03 am      

City council works to correct water billing error

A number of Meridian residents noticed something extra in their recent water and sewerage bill — and it caused many of them to head straight to the telephone.

“We’ve been getting calls — and confrontations,” said Meridian City Council President George Thomas about the increased bills — some of which nearly doubled for residents.

According to Thomas, the increase was due to a misunderstanding in the billing process.

“Four or five months ago, we changed the way billing was going to be done,” he said. “At the time, the people who were computing the bills assumed we wanted to stop doing the reduction in the summer.”

That reduction refers to how in the past, average water and sewerage usage has been calculated based on nine months of the year — not including the summer months — and that amount is billed throughout the year to residents.

“We do this because so many people water their yards and gardens during the summer, and that water does not go back into the sewer treatment system,” he said. “This way, they pay for water, but not the sewer part.”

Because the summer reduction was not included in the average, recently issued water and sewerage bills were higher.

The council passed an order at its last meeting to correct the situation.

“We will go back and do it the way we’ve always done it,” Thomas said.

However, it will take at least a month to go into effect.

“They (residents) are going to get bills that will have the higher amount on it; but it will be corrected on their next bill ... probably July,” Thomas said.

Although city council members have received quite a few complaints about the mixup, Thomas sees a positive side to the situation.

“I guess what we’ve found out is that people really appreciated the reduction. They didn’t realize they were getting a reduction until it was taken off,” he said. “But it was never the intent of the council or city administration to take that away.”