By Bryan Nelson

We have a team effort here at the city to drive the increasing costs of our water, wastewater and reclaimed water by making sure that everyone pays for the water they use, which, in turn, reduces the costs and the overall bill that utility payers are being charged.  

In December 2020, we signed a revenue sharing contract with ISI Water Company of America to identify revenues that weren’t being collected by either unlisted services, incorrect rates or meter condition issues. ISI Water company reviewed 2,382 accounts and identified 87 accounts that were scheduled for work orders. Of these, 35 had unlisted services, which increased revenue to the utilities department by $133,555 a year.  

Incorrect rates were found on 51 accounts, which increased the city revenue by $349,072 per year, and meter condition issues on one had a value of $1,923 per year. All told, ISI Water increased our utility revenue by $484,557 per year without impacting any current customers. 

Now to part two of recognizing all uncollected revenue due the city. We have found multiple properties that have tampered with the meters or the flex-net (wireless communication) that kept the city from gathering the correct information for billing. We have passed the first reading of Ordinance No. 3127, which authorizes the city to fine folks who have tampered with the meter or flex-net $250 for the first offense, $500 for the second offense, and completely shutting off the water on the third offense.  

If we have approval at the second reading, the penalties will become law. We need everyone to pay their correct water usage bill, which will help lower the cost for residents who already comply with the law. We are also updating our charges for new meters, back-flow valves, and labor costs to accurately reflect the inflationary market we are in. 

The third prong was to attack the water meters, flex-nets and radio towers that are giving us inaccurate reads. We are in the process of replacing all nine towers and adding one new one to an area that has a weak signal. This will ensure the signal from the flex-net at the meter can transmit the information to the tower and on to utility billing. This also gives our utility customers the ability to look at their water consumption in almost real-time, thereby helping the homeowner to identify leaks or other issues promptly.  

Our public services and utility billing departments have been working hand-in-hand to reduce the number of meters that weren’t reading at all or are estimating the water usage. In the last four months, we have reduced the number from 31% meters malfunctioning to 16% not working as of last week. We hope to have the number down to 12% by the end of the year and 8% by the end of March, which will be well within the norms of cities such as ours.  

With these three huge steps, we are beginning to see real results and hope to have a much clearer picture of actual revenues and expenses that should help lessen the rate increases that we have experienced in the past.