Ferndale finance chief says training error led to estimated water bills; city offers fixes

Deputy Finance Director Brenda Zerosley told the Ferndale City Council that a missed training step caused the billing system to generate estimated reads for the majority of accounts in the most recent billing cycle. "There was an issue when I was doing some training where I missed a step that caused it to estimate the majority of the bills in that cycle," Zerosley said during the meeting.

Zerosley described the components of a typical bill — wastewater usage, a fixed "readiness to serve" fee of $10 per month and metered water usage — and said the estimated reads used prior usage as the basis rather than arbitrary numbers. She said the city is replacing old water meters to increase the number of actual reads and has formal standard operating procedures to prevent a recurrence.

The presentation included a comparison showing Ferndale’s quarterly bill for 16 units is about $306, roughly $8 above a regional average the slides listed. Council members asked how residents could verify readings; Zerosley said the city posted guidance on social media and residents may email water billing or provide a photo so staff can verify and, if needed, update bills before the next cycle. "We did put a post out on social media that you could email to water billing," she said.

Councilmembers thanked staff for the transparency and asked for copies of the presentation and the new SOPs; staff agreed to make the presentation publicly available and to provide SOPs to the council. The city also noted that for unusual usage (for example, a major leak or filling a pool), residents should contact billing to request a manual adjustment.

The council did not take formal action on billing changes at the meeting; staff said outreach materials and the SOP will be shared with the council and posted for residents.