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Highland Park staff recommend narrowing water leak credits; council favors limits with appeals preserved
Summary
City staff proposed tightening Highland Park's utility billing leak-adjustment policy to limit credits to internal plumbing and service-line leaks and to cap adjustments to one or two billing cycles; council members largely supported the changes while insisting on an appeals backstop.
Highland Park officials on Nov. 24 reviewed proposed changes to the city's utility billing leak-adjustment policy that would narrow eligibility for credits and limit how far back adjustments can be applied.
Christina Casiano, a Finance Department staff member presenting the report, told the Committee of the Whole that the city currently handles requests case by case under two code sections addressing maintenance of service pipes and leak adjustments. She described the calculation used now — customers pay their average bill plus half the difference between the average and the total billed — and gave an example: "if your bill is normally $200 and you receive a $1,000 bill, the city would credit back roughly $445," she said.
Casiano said the city adjusts roughly 50 accounts a year and that the eight-year…
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