Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Utilities topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Del City residents press council to fix new sewer billing language after spike in bills
Summary
Residents told the council that a recent sewer-rate description charging 80% of water use—combined with loss of winter averaging and limited phone support—has produced high bills and confusion; council directed staff to place the topic on a near-term study session for full review.
Del City residents pressed the City Council on unexpectedly large water and sewer bills, urging officials to correct billing language and expand customer support.
At the council meeting, several residents described soaring monthly bills and what they read as a change in how sewer charges are calculated. “I got our utility bill today, and sewer went up double,” said Jim Hightower, a Del City resident, who read a utility fact sheet that he said showed sewer charges set at 80% of water usage and noted the removal of winter averaging. Connie Stivers, another resident, said long-time bills that once ran about $32 have ballooned to nearly $200 and called the amounts “excessive.”
City leaders acknowledged the concerns. A council member said staff would treat the wording as a likely scrivener’s error and asked the city manager to prepare a study-session agenda item that would clarify whether the city intended to compute sewer charges as 80% of winter-average consumption or as 80% of each monthly reading. The council agreed to hold that discussion at a study session next week so staff can present the billing language, auditing results and options for relief.
Council members also pressed operations staff to improve phone coverage during billing cycles after residents reported unanswered calls. One council member suggested scheduling dedicated, in-person billing-help hours so residents can have questions answered face to face.
The manager said staff are auditing meters and building an AMI customer portal and that the water/wastewater team will provide documentation to the council at the study session. No immediate rate change was adopted at the meeting; the council’s action was to request detailed staff reporting and to place the item on the study-session agenda for next Wednesday.
What happens next: The council directed staff to return with a clearer billing explanation, the underlying ordinance/contract language, and options for mitigating unusually high bills. The matter will be discussed in depth at the scheduled study-session meeting.
