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Item 1.
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| City Council Work Session | |
| Date: | 09/30/2024 |
| Title: | Utility Billing |
| Presented by: | Chris Kukulski, City Administrator |
| Department: | City Hall Administration |
| Presentation: | Yes |
| Legal Review: | Not Applicable |
| Project Number: | N/A |
RECOMMENDATION
No action is requested. The conversation is intended to answer questions about utility bills and meters.
BACKGROUND (Consistency with Adopted Plans and Policies, if applicable)
In June 2024, the City transitioned to a new utility billing software. Following the conversion, staff encountered multiple issues that led to delays in issuing bills. As a result, most customers received 60-day bills, while approximately 1,000 customers received 90-day bills. Since the distribution of the 60-day bills, a few thousand customers have reached out via phone, email, and social media with concerns about high bills, particularly about higher than expected water usage.
As your city administrator, it is my responsibility to ensure that services to our citizens are both effective and efficient. Unfortunately, we did not meet this commitment in this instance. In hindsight, after missing the window to implement the software conversion in the spring, I should have delayed it until the fall. We are fully committed to restoring the trust of the city council and our residents. With the integrity, dedication, and service commitment of our staff, I am confident we will resolve this issue and move forward stronger.
Staff will provide a brief history of the utility billing conversion, the challenges encountered, and the steps being taken to verify the accuracy of bills. Staff will also address the most common questions and concerns that we have heard from the community. Additionally, staff will discuss options for a third-party analysis/audit to reassure customers of the accuracy of the billing and meter reading systems. There will be time dedicated to answering questions from the City Council and hearing public comments.
For customers who grant permission, staff will review live billing and meter data to present real-life examples. Forms will also be available for those who would like to request follow-up assistance from the Public Works team.
The following is a template response we began to use this week as we became overwhelmed with emails. It includes hyperlinks to help customers assess their utility bills.
Good Morning,
We have received an extremely high number of inquiries about the 60-day utility bills. Your inquiry is important to us and instead of making you wait for an extensive time for a response, we want to offer a few tools that may help you to find the answer you are seeking.
General Information:
Generally, this is a 60-day bill covering most of July and August so it should be roughly double what your typical summer usage would be instead of your last statement because that would not have been for summer usage. In addition though, annual solid waste, water and sewer rate increases averaged 7.8% this year. And, the storm fee was moved from taxes to the utility bill so that makes the average percentage increase approximately 15.5%. The storm fee will be removed from your taxes so it is not a true increase. We have seen a 29% increase in consumption across the city this summer due to the high temperatures so we are seeing that most people are using more water, similar to usage in the summer of 2021. It is important to also know that we have reviewed thousands of bills and have not found errors in the bills. The bills were delayed due to our extensive effort to ensure that the bills were accurate. So, while it is not impossible that the bill you have has an error, it is highly improbable.
Frequently asked questions that address these bills: https://billingsmtpublicworks.gov/248/Payments-Utility-Account-Services
Access information online:
Also, you can find a lot of information in the online portal. You can see the breakdown of the bill and usage and you can manage your account including autopay, leak notification, and other preferences. We created a tutorial to help with the log in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzRj7TZkZd4
The online bill pay system can be accessed at:
https://accountadmin.billingsmtpublicworks.gov/
The following link will give you both old and new account numbers, so if you need your new account number, please use this link:
Water Billing History Query (billingsmt.gov)
Instruction to review bill:
We have also created a video that walks through the information on your bill and how you can do a quick check of this current bill as it relates to previous usage at your address.
https://youtu.be/KBYRaVCDb0U
Information on previous years usage can oftentimes be found in the portal but we’ve also developed a tool that you can use to get your last few years’ usage. The link is at Water Billing History Query (billingsmt.gov) and you will need to know either your old account number or new account number.
The vast majority of bills are for 60 days but there are a few 90-day bills. This video will show where to look for the billing period – please be aware that the graph does not reflect the billing period, it simply shows the amount as of the bill date.
Further information:
If this information does not give you the answer you are looking for, please reply to this email and an account representative will review it and get back to you. Please allow a few weeks due to the large number of inquiries.
As your city administrator, it is my responsibility to ensure that services to our citizens are both effective and efficient. Unfortunately, we did not meet this commitment in this instance. In hindsight, after missing the window to implement the software conversion in the spring, I should have delayed it until the fall. We are fully committed to restoring the trust of the city council and our residents. With the integrity, dedication, and service commitment of our staff, I am confident we will resolve this issue and move forward stronger.
Staff will provide a brief history of the utility billing conversion, the challenges encountered, and the steps being taken to verify the accuracy of bills. Staff will also address the most common questions and concerns that we have heard from the community. Additionally, staff will discuss options for a third-party analysis/audit to reassure customers of the accuracy of the billing and meter reading systems. There will be time dedicated to answering questions from the City Council and hearing public comments.
For customers who grant permission, staff will review live billing and meter data to present real-life examples. Forms will also be available for those who would like to request follow-up assistance from the Public Works team.
The following is a template response we began to use this week as we became overwhelmed with emails. It includes hyperlinks to help customers assess their utility bills.
Good Morning,
We have received an extremely high number of inquiries about the 60-day utility bills. Your inquiry is important to us and instead of making you wait for an extensive time for a response, we want to offer a few tools that may help you to find the answer you are seeking.
General Information:
Generally, this is a 60-day bill covering most of July and August so it should be roughly double what your typical summer usage would be instead of your last statement because that would not have been for summer usage. In addition though, annual solid waste, water and sewer rate increases averaged 7.8% this year. And, the storm fee was moved from taxes to the utility bill so that makes the average percentage increase approximately 15.5%. The storm fee will be removed from your taxes so it is not a true increase. We have seen a 29% increase in consumption across the city this summer due to the high temperatures so we are seeing that most people are using more water, similar to usage in the summer of 2021. It is important to also know that we have reviewed thousands of bills and have not found errors in the bills. The bills were delayed due to our extensive effort to ensure that the bills were accurate. So, while it is not impossible that the bill you have has an error, it is highly improbable.
Frequently asked questions that address these bills: https://billingsmtpublicworks.gov/248/Payments-Utility-Account-Services
Access information online:
Also, you can find a lot of information in the online portal. You can see the breakdown of the bill and usage and you can manage your account including autopay, leak notification, and other preferences. We created a tutorial to help with the log in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzRj7TZkZd4
The online bill pay system can be accessed at:
https://accountadmin.billingsmtpublicworks.gov/
The following link will give you both old and new account numbers, so if you need your new account number, please use this link:
Water Billing History Query (billingsmt.gov)
Instruction to review bill:
We have also created a video that walks through the information on your bill and how you can do a quick check of this current bill as it relates to previous usage at your address.
https://youtu.be/KBYRaVCDb0U
Information on previous years usage can oftentimes be found in the portal but we’ve also developed a tool that you can use to get your last few years’ usage. The link is at Water Billing History Query (billingsmt.gov) and you will need to know either your old account number or new account number.
The vast majority of bills are for 60 days but there are a few 90-day bills. This video will show where to look for the billing period – please be aware that the graph does not reflect the billing period, it simply shows the amount as of the bill date.
Further information:
If this information does not give you the answer you are looking for, please reply to this email and an account representative will review it and get back to you. Please allow a few weeks due to the large number of inquiries.
ALTERNATIVES
NA
FISCAL EFFECTS
There is no fiscal impact from having the discussion.