Miamisburg woman’s $1,276 water bill among resident complaints

Miamisburg customers question accuracy of bills following rate increases.

Many frustrated Miamisburg utility customers continue to challenge the accuracy of the city's water bills, suggesting the process may have systemic flaws in tracking usage.

Inaccurate usage readings, they say, may have created higher quarterly bills - in some cases more than four times than the projected average – that have been magnified as the city instituted a series of front-loaded annual, five-year rate hikes.

The increases for an estimated 7,800 customers are paying for Miamisburg's $69 million water and sewer upgrades, many of which are mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“A lot of the higher billing were in newer developments,” said Rhonda Vinson, one of more than 70 who attended a forum Thursday night about the city’s utility billing.

One woman who lives by herself said she was billed for using 56,250 gallons of water from September to December and owes $1,276.92 for that quarter. The city’s projected average bill for the quarter is $262.

The city is unaware of any malfunction or error in the quarterly billing system that covers water, sewer and trash up, Miamisburg Public Information Officer Gary Giles has said.

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Vinson said is she is “wondering if they got (incompatible) meters and there’s something systemically wrong with those meters that maybe the city isn’t aware of at this time. It needs to be addressed.”

The forum was the “first step” in a process to address Miamisburg’s utility customers’ concerns, said City Councilwoman Sarah Clark, who organized the session because of increasing complaints in recent months.

Clark said she will share residents’ concerns with the rest of council. But she said there could be several reasons for the high bills.

“There are (many) things that could be factors…..every single one of you may have a different issues that’s caused that,” she said.

“It might be that the (meters) are not being read properly,” Clark added. “I’m not saying that’s not possible. I’ve not seen any evidence of that yet. But I’m not going to say that’s not a possibility. It is something we’re going to look into.”

Meanwhile, residents are encouraged to contact city staff if they have an issue with the billing, Mayor Dick Church Jr. said.

“Our staff is able and willing to work any resident that might have a concern,” he said. “We have a fine staff that would be willing to work with any resident that feels there is a big problem – not just the rate increase – with their bill.

“The rate increase applies to everybody. I know my bill is up,” Church added. “We have a mandate from the EPA that we have to correct problems.”

Customers’ questions about the bills have led to changes in more than 120 payments, Giles has said.

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YEAR *AVG. BILL

2014 $180

2015 $217

2016 $262

2017 $294

2018 $303

2019 $312

*Based on city projections

SOURCE: City of Miamisburg website

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