North Lauderdale to switch utility billing systems; payments paused Aug.14–27, late fees suspended through October

City of North Lauderdale officials and utility contractor US Water told residents at a town‑hall that the city will replace its third‑party utility billing platform with a new integrated system (Tyler UB/CIS) scheduled to go live Aug. 27, 2025, and that online payments through the old portal will be blocked from Aug. 14 until Aug. 27.

The change will require residents to use a new 10‑digit “utility billing number” composed of a 5‑digit account number (tied to the property) and a 5‑digit customer ID (tied to the owner). Lisonbee Gale, utility billing supervisor for the City of North Lauderdale, said, “When we move into the new utility billing, that's gonna be different. We have what we call a new utility billing number, which consists of 2 parts, the account number as well as a customer ID number.” She added that residents will need both numbers to pay online and that the city will mail those numbers to accounts before the go‑live.

The transition includes a short payments blackout to allow staff and the vendor to “clean up” the old system and convert account data. David Himes, customer service and billing supervisor with US Water, told the room, “Payments during transition No payments will be able to be taken from August 14 to 08/27/2025 due to the transition Residents will be able to begin making payments again August 28.” City staff said mailed letters with the new account and customer ID numbers will arrive to the mailing address the city has on file and urged residents to confirm that address with utility customer service.

Why it matters: the new system will integrate billing with the city’s financial system and with the new AMI metering rollout, and staff said it should reduce manual reconciliation and billing errors. Mitch Williams, director of Innovation and Information Technology Services, summarized the goals: “The goals of the implementation of this system is to streamline the utility billing process, to improve efficiency, improve customer transparency, reduce the manual efforts and the errors.”

What residents should expect and how to pay: staff said residents can still pay in person (cashier desk), use drop boxes (check, cashier’s check or money order only), or pay through AMSCOT (cash only; a $2 fee) while the online portal is blocked. After Aug. 27 residents must re‑register in the new portal (resident access) and re‑enter stored payment details; staff said stored payment information and recurring autopay from the old portal will not be migrated. Gale explained, “Store payment details will not be transferred. You will need to create new, new account using your updated account number and customer ID number after August 27.”

Customer controls and features: the city will offer a resident access portal with bill PDFs, consumption graphs, account management (add/remove properties), notification preferences, scheduled payments and autopay enrollment. Staff will host assisted registration sessions in the commission chambers on Aug. 27 and Aug. 28 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. to help residents sign up.

Owners‑only accounts and mailing address rules: the city reiterated that utility accounts are owners‑only under city ordinance (in effect since 02/2007) and that the billing vendor will use the U.S. Postal Service National Change of Address (NCOA) data when printing bills. Gale warned that, “If you recently moved and you say, hey, Postal service, this is my new address...the address in this system, it was is going to supersede the address you provide to us.” Property ownership on the Broward County Property Appraiser (BCPA) roll will be used to set account names; changes in ownership generally require recorded deeds.

Temporary customer protections: to reduce harm from transition issues, staff announced they will suspend late‑payment penalties for three months (August, September and October 2025). Himes told the meeting, “For the months of August, September, and October, the late, the late fees will be all shut down. So no one will receive late fees for that time period.” The city also said it will remove a late fee that occurs because of the occasional calendar effect when two due dates fall in one calendar month (noted especially for cycle‑2 customers).

Timing and backlog expectation: staff warned of a likely backlog when the new system begins accepting payments, and advised patience: large volumes of payments that arrive during the blackout or by drop box/AMSCOt may take two to three weeks to post in the new system.

Questions and follow‑up: staff directed residents to the utility billing customer‑service desk to update contact and mailing information so mailers reach the correct address and to receive one‑on‑one registration help at the Aug. 27–28 sessions.