Residents press council over steep May sewer bills; staff authorized to adjust outliers

At Monday's Dell Rapids City Council meeting, residents urged the council to address unexpected spikes in May sewer bills. Robert Reek, who identified himself as a Del Rapids resident, said: "Our sewer bill is more than our water bill," and Jay (address given) told the council his statement showed identical water and sewer consumption figures he disputed.

City staff member Christina explained the city's sewer averaging method, saying residential sewer averages are computed using December through May water usage and that May billing in this cycle did not include the sewer average. Christina recommended using a five-page abnormal-consumption report to identify accounts with anomalous usage and adjust those bills by applying April usage as the basis for sewer charges where appropriate. Resident John Rausch, who described long experience implementing utility billing systems, backed proactive customer contact, saying many customers on automatic payments "don't mean to look at their bill." Council voted to authorize staff to make ad hoc adjustments for accounts flagged in the abnormal report, to credit accounts that already paid, and to notify impacted customers by mail and social media.

The action gives staff authority to issue credits or corrected bills before the upcoming ACH payment date; staff said adjustments will be completed prior to scheduled automatic withdrawals. Council members asked staff to include an explanatory notice on June bills and to continue discussing long-term changes to sewer averaging in the fall budget cycle.