Residents press mayor over water bills as mayor blames meter‑reading gaps and flat charges

At the Prairie View town‑hall, several residents raised concerns about utility billing, saying some households received water bills months late and in unexpectedly large amounts.

Paula Matthews Barnett asked, "How are we gonna go forward to getting that corrected?" The mayor said the issue stemmed from multiple failures: meters not being read, meter readings sometimes entered as a flat rate and a leadership gap in the utility office. He described revenue losses from the billing problem as "a number in the hundreds of thousands for the past 3 months." The mayor said staff are cross‑referencing records, meeting with public works and exploring smart meters as a future solution.

The mayor acknowledged that the previous city manager’s removal coincided with when meter reading problems began and said the city is developing a plan to either recover the revenue or write some of it off. He did not provide a timetable for resolving individual customer billing cases.

Residents asked who can explain how charges were calculated; the mayor said the former city manager would have been the best person to answer but that the city is pursuing internal review and will provide updates when available. He encouraged residents to use the city website, request meetings and bring specific billing questions to staff for follow‑up.

The mayor’s comments put the issue on the city’s action list; he stressed that addressing billing accuracy and recovery is a priority but did not announce any immediate customer relief program or formal policy change at the meeting.