City staff says Munis billing rollout caused interest‑calculation bugs and delayed bills

Interim Finance Director Jim Nolan told the council the city activated the Munis utility‑billing module on July 1 and that programming flaws — particularly in how interest was calculated — caused incorrect interest charges and delayed mailing of September bills. "We clearly did not get there," Nolan said, describing patches that failed to resolve an interest calculation bug.

Utilities staff and the finance team said they are working with the vendor, have paused problematic bill runs, and are waiving interest charges while they resolve the issue. Nolan said some patches were applied in July but did not work correctly; staff is conducting quality assurance and intends to release corrected bills once the interest calculation is fixed. The utility director said the September bill run was 18 days late and that staff expect to hold that run until issues are resolved.

Staff acknowledged the Munis rollout was one factor complicating the sewer‑rate implementation. City Manager Kennedy said the rollout did not reflect ill intent and apologized, adding that staff lacked sufficient quality assurance before implementation. "There is no excuse," Kennedy said, and added the city will extend any necessary waivers and credits to customers while fixes are applied.

The city asked customers to wait for the corrected September bill; staff said credits for any already‑paid $81 minimum fees will appear on upcoming reconciled bills and that shutoffs and penalties have been suspended during the correction period.