If you recently received a huge water bill from the city of St. Petersburg, you’re not alone.
Many residents are complaining to city leaders about excessive bills, sometimes in the thousands of dollars, without a clear explanation.
During a Feb. 6 meeting, city council members committed to not turn off water for unpaid bills.
“I don’t want anybody’s water to get cut off because they owe $2,000 when they should owe $200, OK?” council member Gina Driscoll said last week.
In a 8-0 vote, council members also agreed to fast-track the issue for a Feb. 20 meeting.
First, they'll have to change the city code, which keeps the council from intervening with water bill discrepancies. City administrator Rob Gerdes said the code is too “stringent,” and “really not broad enough to cover the scope of what appears to be happening here,”
Assistant city administrator Tom Green and Candice Winter, interim director of the city’s billing and collections, summarized their understanding of the issues with water billing for council members last Thursday.
Winter said that billing for residential customers differ on a case-by-case basis, but there’s several culprits for higher-than-normal charges. She said the worst offender lately has been storm-related damages, like a broken pipe or water leak that has gone unfixed and is unknowingly driving up usage.
Winter admitted there have been numerous cases where the culprit for a jump in water usage, and bills, isn’t obvious. In all cases, according to city code, the only options the billing team can offer customers is a leak adjustment or payment plan.
“It can be very frustrating for customers because very often there's not an immediate source of what did happen, and the fact that it is a mystery is very difficult for some people to accept,” Winter said.
This all comes as the billing department works through a hurricane-related backlog of utility bills and an annual water rate increase that hit customers pockets in October amid hurricane recovery. The water meters in St. Petersburg were also recently upgraded to digital technology that is “better at detecting usage,” for better or worse, council Chair Copley Gerdes said.
Residents came to last week's council meeting to complain about exorbitant, and possibly erroneous, bills.
Lindsey Anderson called in remotely while between doctor appointments and said she received a bill for $1,000 for her 900-square-foot Snell Isle home. She said she hasn’t been living at her home since the hurricanes rendered it unhabitable.
“I’m on a retired pension, a very, very limited budget, and can barely pay this. I will be forced out of my home if these continue,” she said.
In recent weeks, droves of residents have shared similar concerns online. A January Facebook post by St. Petersburg addressing water bill concerns received 284 comments from distressed residents as of Wednesday.
Eliza Jean wrote, “I got ripped off! My bill is normally $130 and it was $600 this month!! No leak, no issues.”
“Make it make sense. Average bill over last 12 months, $150. Current bill $1700. More than 10 times the average,” user Amy Thewebdiva wrote under the post.
It’s not clear how many St. Petersburg residents are experiencing the higher-than-normal bills, a point recently brought up by council member Richie Floyd.
“We've had a lot of people reach out to us, but [we] cannot say how systemic the problem is right now,” Floyd said during the Feb. 6 meeting.
Gerdes echoed the need for more information and tasked the billing department with providing data on every bill the city’s charged customers at 200% of their monthly average payment.
Council member Deborah Figgs-Sanders called into question whether the city’s utility billing system, NaviLine, could be to blame. The system, which was called “antiquated” by Winter, is scheduled to be replaced in the coming year.
“What if we really did make the mistake? What if it really is on us; that is not a my-bad moment, that is just not a my-bad moment,” she said.
Council members also discussed the swath of complaints from residents feeling "frustrated and disgruntled" after speaking with city customer service agents about their water bills.
Those who received a higher-than-normal bill are encouraged to continue paying their average payment and contact the utility services call center at (727) 893-7341. Customers also have the ability to petition a bill to the city’s Utility Billing Review Committee.
Gabriella Paul covers the stories of people living paycheck to paycheck in the greater Tampa Bay region for WUSF. She's also a Report for America corps member. Here’s how you can share your story with her.
