(Publisher’s Note — There is a Monday night town hall meeting at 6 p.m. at the Del Rio Civic Center to discuss water rates.)
By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City council members during their most recent meeting learned the city’s utility billing
department has nearly completed rebilling and readjusting customers’ bills to reflect the
same rates those customers were paying earlier this year.
Assistant City Manager Manuel Chavez gave the council an update on Nov. 18 on the
work the city’s utility billing department has been doing to adjust customers’ bills for the
remainder of the year.
The city council had earlier in the year approved major increases in the city’s water and
wastewater rates, which went into effect Oct. 1.
After large numbers of customers complained, many of them attending several council
meetings to speak out against the new rates, the council also learned that it should have
held a public hearing before enacting the rate increase.
The city then went back to its pre-Oct. 1 water and wastewater rates and promised
customers their bills would be adjusted. The rates will remain at pre-Oct. 1 levels at least
until the end of the year.
In his update, Chavez told the council the city’s utility billing department is readjusting
all of the October bills sent to residential customers.
“I want to provide just a quick comparison as far as what an individual might see on their
bill or their account,” Chavez said.
He told the council he would be using the same bills from actual city customers he had
used as examples during a previous council meeting.
On the first bill, a customer who had been charged $109.07 in October for using 2,300
gallons of water and who had already paid the bill, would now receive a $15.71 credit on
their account, since their readjusted October bill totaled $93.36.
“So, once we run the next billing, which is for the month of November, they’ll have that
credit on the account, plus whatever consumption is being applied for the month of
November, and again, that’s only if the individual had paid prior to last Friday,” Chavez
said.
He then moved to his second example; again, one he had used previously.
Similarly, this customer, who had received an October bill of $277.96 for using 29,300
gallons of water and who had already paid it, will receive a credit on their account for the
following month.
Chavez told the council, “The month of November, we will be issuing those out, again,
going back to, we have four (billing) cycles. The first two cycles have already been
billed, and the third cycle will be billed on Wednesday (Nov. 19), and the fourth will be
billed the next Wednesday (Nov. 26).
“At that point, everyone should be receiving an updated bill that includes October’s
adjustment, and moving forward, that should then be applied again for the month of
December,” Chavez said.
Chavez said he wanted to show the council what was being done, adding, “Again, they’ll
receive a credit if payment has been made or they’ll have a readjusted balance if payment
hasn’t been made.”
Mayor Al Arreola asked if council members had any questions.
Councilman J.P. Sanchez asked, “So for the month of October, November and December,
you’ll be reverting to the old rates, correct?”
“And rate structure; that’s correct,” Chavez replied.
When Sanchez asked if the new rates would go back into effect Jan. 1, Chavez said,
“Should those be adopted, then, yes.”
Councilman Jesus Lopez Jr. said he had “been asked by a person concerned; her bill was
high, and she only paid half the bill.”
“How are they going to be aware that a credit was given to them after they only paid half
of that bill?” Lopez asked.
“So anyone that made partial payment, once, depending on where they land in the
(billing) cycle, you should be able to see that in the November bill in real time, as far as
any balance or credit that is applied to the account,” Chavez said.
Lopez said the customer he had spoken with isn’t able to access the bill on line, and
Chavez said the customer could speak with a utility billing clerk at City Hall or call to get
information about their account and their current balance.
“So by the next bill, they should already be credited and this should be right?” Arreola
asked.
Chavez replied, “Yes, any adjustment has been applied to the account.”
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
