Carrabelle moves to iron out water bill disputes

            Computer glitches and alleged leaks have led to several disputes for Carrabelle's water and sewer department but computerized records are helping verify which complaints are based in reality.

            The department has experienced some billing problems recently, City Clerk Keisha Smith told city commissioners June 4, and has taken steps ranging from purchasing new water meters to changing their bookkeeping program to try and correct the errors.

            Several customers of the water department have protested bills with mixed results.

On May 7, Ernest Burger, a part-time resident, appeared at the city commission meeting to contest an unusually large water bill from his last six months of absence and the late fees accumulated on it.

            The commission ordered him to pay the bill but removed the late fees. The bill had been returned several times by the post office so it had not been delivered in a timely fashion.

            The board removed the entire monthly sewer charges, and half the water charges, for Don Davis because his usage was caused by a leak that the computer record showed he fixed immediately after becoming aware of it.

            At the June 4 meeting, Water Commissioner James Brown asked for an audit of the entire billing system because he and other customers had received sewer bills despite the fact they had no sewer service.

            Smith said she believed the improperly issued bills were the result of a glitch in a new computer billing program. She said nobody has paid a bill that was improperly issued.

Rohrs challenges water bill

            At the same meeting, Barbara Rohrs, former chair of the now defunct Lanark Village water and sewer board, contested a more than $300 past-due water bill for a rental property she and her husband own in Lanark.

            "Because the renter (Bobbie Young) was a personal friend of my husband's, we did not collect a deposit on this property," said Rohrs. She said the renter should be responsible for the bill.

            Rohrs said prior to Young residing in the house, water use there had been about 10,000 gallons per month, but shot up to 46,000 gallons a month with Young living there.

            "I have never paid a water bill late," she said.

            Commissioner Richard Sands took issue with that assertion. "Don't you realize we have these records on the computer?" he asked. "You had a balance past due on this account before Young moved into the house."

            Sands said he spent several hours researching the matter and Rohrs had been late with water payments on 59 occasions in the past.

            Rohrs later stormed from the room, grumbling, "I should have known nobody would listen to me fairly."

            Smith said Rohrs had owed $262 in water and sewer fees when Young moved into the house, but now she has only $93 past due from that earlier amount.

            In a later interview, Smith said Young had never used 46,000 gallons in a month and, in fact, never exceeded the minimum usage. She said that with the past due balance plus a 10 percent late fee, Young owed the city $234.

            "We could have charged Ms. Rohrs for the entire amount, but I was trying to be fair," she said.

            Smith said recent billing errors are the result of changes to the billing codes when Lanark Village joined Carrabelle's water system, and glitches in the newly implemented billing system.

            "We have the billing codes pretty well worked out now," she said. "We'll just have to work with the new system for a while. When there's a problem, most people will come in and complain and if they're honest we'll try to work with them."