By Cathy Spaulding
Phoenix Staff Writer
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Erroneously-placed decimal points caused two Muskogee water and sewer customers to overpay on their bills and six others to pay too little.
Muskogee city officials want to see who’s responsible for inaccurate water meter readings that resulted in over-billing two customers by more than $35,000 and under-billing six customers by a total of $27,590.
At the Muskogee Public Works Committee’s regular meeting on Tuesday, City Manager Greg Buckley traced the problem to when the Honeywell meter reading system was installed in 2007. At the time of the installation, all 15,800 water meters were categorized as either small, medium or large determined by meter size. The designation of the entry determined where the decimal would be placed when the automated system read the meter dials and submitted the readings to billing.
“We found eight meters that had been inaccurately entered into the system,” Buckley told the committee. Buckley said none of the eight customers affected have been notified.
Buckley said the two accounts that were over-billed would be issued credit on their accounts if the council directs.
City records showed that Whittier Elementary School, 1705 Cincinnati Ave., was over-billed by a total of $24,573.46 in 38 monthly bills between July 3, 2007 and July 30, 2010. This includes $14,835 for the water bills and $9,738 for the sewer bills. The July 2010 bill showed a billed reading of 4511 units of water, while the correct reading was 451 units. A unit equals 748 gallons of water, City Clerk Pam Bates said. The July 2010 water bill was $202.05 while the correct amount is $22.73.
Muskogee Public Schools Chief Financial Officer John Little said he had not heard about the city’s billing situation, although workers in the district’s accounts payable department had suspected something was wrong with Whittier’s bills.
“I’m glad this is going to be resolved,” Little said.
Omega, Muskogee Limited, a Tulsa real estate management company with property in Muskogee, was over-billed by $11,154.18 between October 2007 and July 2010. This includes a $7,500.18 overage in the water bill and $3,654 in the sewer bill.
Public Works Committee members found themselves torn on what to do with the six customers who were shown to have underpaid.
“In cases where you owe them money, you have to pay them back,” City Attorney John Vincent said. He said the city could waive the underpayments, seek the full payment or seek partial payment.
Mayor John Tyler Hammons said he was torn about whether to charge customers for something that was not their mistake after they had made a good faith effort to pay their bills.
“The answer might lie in whose mistake it was,” said Council Member Shawn Raper.
Buckley said it is not known whether the error was caused by inaccurate conversion by the installers or inaccurate entry by city staff.
City Clerk Pam Bates said she did not believe the source could be traced because reports of the installation could not be found.
“If we find the contractor had made the mistake, we should pursue the contractor for it,” Raper said.
Six city utility customers, including one residence, were under-billed by a total of $27,590 in water and sewer bills.
• Cake LLC, (IHOP), 1600 N. 32nd St., was under-billed by $10,136.63 through 26 bills from June 2008 to July 2010. This includes $6,689 in water and $3,447 in sewer bills.
• Muskogee Regional Medical Center’s general irrigation, was under-billed by a total of $6,868, through 37 bills from February 2009 to July 2010.
• Toyota of Muskogee, 2314 W. Shawnee Bypass, was under-billed by a total of $5,636, including $3,802 in water and $1,834 in sewer through 16 bills from April 2009 to July 2010.
• Sullivan Properties (Berwick Apartments), 3300-B E. Hancock Road, was under-billed by $3,418.11 through 35 bills from October 2007 to August 2010, including $2,251,71 in water and $1,166.40 in sewer.
• Ed Johnson, a private resident at 3600 Bona Villa Drive, was under-billed by $1,377.20 from 24 bills from May 2008 to July 2010.
• St. Joseph Catholic Church, 323 N. Virginia St. was under-billed by a total of $153.57, including $1.47 in water and $152.10 in sewer.
Reach Cathy Spaulding at 684-2928 or cspaulding@muskogeephoenix.com.
