Portales manager outlines tiered water rates, urges meter checks and explains city support for customers

Scott Mendenhall, Portales city manager, told a packed town-hall meeting that the city’s tiered water rates are designed to conserve supplies and that most unexpectedly large bills can be explained by high usage or customer-side leaks rather than deliberate overcharging.

“At the end of the day, the math is there,” Mendenhall said, walking residents through the rate schedule and arithmetic examples that show how bills rise as usage crosses tier thresholds. He noted the first billing tier covers roughly the first 2,000 gallons and that higher per‑1,000‑gallon charges apply as consumption increases.

The nut graf: Residents who think bills are implausibly high should first check for leaks and verify meter readings. Mendenhall described practical leak-detection steps — a 15‑minute meter test and the toilet food‑dye test — and said city billing staff will pull up account reads and contact customers when they see anomalous patterns.

Mendenhall gave concrete examples and diagnostic steps. He described the 15‑minute test this way: turn off all water at the house, note the meter reading, wait 15 minutes and check again; any change indicates water is flowing past the meter. For toilets he recommended putting food coloring in the tank and watching whether colored water appears in the bowl without flushing.

The city cited scale and common causes: roughly 5,600 service connections in Portales mean small drips multiply across the community, and running toilets, underground service-line breaks on a customer’s side of the meter, broken sprinkler heads and hard‑wired evaporative coolers can add thousands of gallons to a monthly total. Mendenhall said a modest, unseen leak can inflate usage to levels that appear incompatible with a family’s routine.

Mendenhall also addressed social‑media claims that the city is overcharging customers. “I see these comments on Facebook,” he said, but added that when the posted dollar amounts are converted back into gallons using the published tiered rates, many of those claims ‘‘don’t map out.’’ He urged residents to contact the billing office rather than assume bad faith.

The city is planning technology upgrades to reduce such disputes. Mendenhall said Portales is evaluating new digital meters and a customer portal that would let customers view near‑real‑time readings and set alerts when use approaches higher rates. He said the upgrades should arrive in the coming months.

On finances, Mendenhall said the city has in recent years partly bridged water revenue shortfalls from the general fund — an approach limited by statute — and noted the city pays for water rights through a recurring land-lease payment that increases annually (he cited an example lease starting around $140,000 per year). Those costs, he said, are part of the reason the water enterprise has had to adjust rates to avoid operating at a loss.

Mendenhall repeatedly offered the city’s help: billing staff will review readings, rerun suspected meter reads, and call customers when they detect consistent overnight or all‑day flow that suggests a problem. He mentioned Cathy Rice in the billing office as the staff contact for residents who want a meter review.

A resident who spoke during the Q&A recounted a sudden rise in household usage — from roughly 1,000–1,500 gallons to about 9,000 — and said plumbers later found a freshwater intake leak under the house that was invisible from the lawn. Mendenhall used the example to illustrate how leaks buried beneath foundations or in crawl spaces can go undetected but still generate very large bills.

Mendenhall closed by urging residents to be proactive: watch meter trends, perform the 15‑minute and dye tests, talk to the billing office for digital readouts, and repair leaks promptly to reduce bills and conserve the Ogallala Aquifer. The town hall ended with the city offering to assist any resident who believes a bill does not match their typical volume.