Council hears resident complaint about unexpected $136 water bill; staff point to irregular meter reads

Maddie, the town staff member handling billing, told the Cornish Town Council that a resident, Becky Nelson, called to report an unusually high water bill on the Lynn James account. "Their bill was a $136," Maddie said, noting the charge included separate usage components of about $6.40, $42 and $34 on top of the base rate of $54. She said the household told staff it had not recently used additional water.

Maddie told the council she contacted Jay, who handles manual meter reads, and that he reported he does not read that meter regularly; he had performed a random read recently and could not recall when the prior read occurred. "He doesn't usually read that meter because it's a manual read," Maddie said, explaining the apparent usage could result from an infrequent read rather than from a new leak.

Council members discussed immediate options. Maddie said Jay can turn off the meter if the resident prefers paying only the base rate; members noted there is typically a one-time fee to turn service off and another fee to restore it, and the figures discussed were roughly $15 for the service change. No formal decision was recorded; the staff agreed to contact the resident with the reading explanation and to offer the options of a service shutoff or closer meter monitoring.

Why it matters: For residents on manual reads, an infrequent meter reading can create unexpectedly large bills when usage is recorded after a long interval. Council members directed staff to follow up with affected customers and to consider more regular meter reads for manually read accounts.

The town did not adopt a new policy at the meeting; staff said they would notify residents directly and pursue operational follow-up.