Water Bill Questions? Ferndale Wants to Hear From You

Ferndale is working to address residents' concerns following a recent round of catch-up water bills that took some customers by surprise.

City Manager April Lynch and Public Works Director Loyd Cureton said city staff members are responding to several frustrated speakers who raised the issue during a budget hearing Monday at City Hall and soon will have more detailed information about the scope of the problem.

A glitch following the city's conversion to electronic meters resulted in higher-than-normal bills during the last billing cycle for a small portion of residents, Cureton said Thursday. The new meters monitored and recorded customers' use properly, he explained, but some of the transmitters that allow remote reads did not estimate properly, he said.

The water meter conversion, which was finished approximately 2 years ago, took a while to complete and the problem was not detected immediately, Cureton said. But, when it was, Elster – the company that conducted the conversion – agreed to upgrade the system last year at no extra charge, he said.

"Before this system, we used to actually have to go out and physically go property to property to read the meters," he said, adding that the new system allows the city to read meters via computer and allocate its manpower elsewhere. "It saves a lot of money, which ultimately is the point of this new technology."

The catch-up bills stem from the period between when the system's installation began and the problem's correction, Cureton said.

The city wants to hear from residents who are concerned about their water bills and will work with them to modify payment plans and ensure they are billed at the correct rate, as prices increased during the time period in question, Lynch said.

"We encourage residents, if they got a catch-up bill, to call the Water Department at 248-546-2374 so the city can understand their case," she said.

In the meanwhile, Lynch and city staff members are working on the following issues.

• How water bills are presented, following complaints they do not provide enough information for residents to track use and billing.
• Correcting bills.
• Improving communication with Water Department customers.

"Any time somebody receives a high bill, they should look to verify the numbers on their meter match up with their bill," Cureton said. "Any time you feel your bill is too low or too high, we want to hear from you to prevent misunderstandings in the future.

"There are going to be times in any human endeavor when things don't work and you just have to step up and make them right," Cureton said.