For the month of March we received a (city utilities) bill for $863. Our normal bills run $250 to $350. Increase was due to water and sewage. Shocked, we went straight to the utility office. Never had any heads up to this increase.
At that time, we were told it was an error and wait on new bill. It never arrived, but they gave us new meter. A few days later we inquired again. At that time we had printouts of new meter readings. Everything was back to normal.
In the meantime we scoured the house for leaks, never finding any, but the new meter showed periods of zero use, so we knew we didn’t have a major leak.
We were told they no longer had any information on old meter except they had checked it in their shop and it was working fine. Wayne talked to Jon Oman, head of utilities, who said he didn’t know what happened. Wayne was told to go to Board of Works May 14 meeting expecting to have water and sewage bill decreased. They would only discuss giving, he thought they said $100 off, but we’re only given $69 off water. Josh Hunt discussed how fast a water bill can increase with a leak. Wayne came home frustrated as we, truthfully, told them we couldn’t find a leak. They said they believed the water went down our sewer. We have ended up paying an almost $800 utility bill.
This same scenario happened to Jerry Ripple, in December 2023. Others like Hunt Club and Mt. Fuji were reimbursed for both water and sewage as per minutes of Board of Works meetings during 2023-2024. With our sewage being 1.5 times water usage we are certainly paying large sewer bills. Fort Wayne is one times water bill
Why have we been treated like this by the City of Bluffton? Why should any customer be treated like this? Why are they assuming we are lying, but they assume everything from the city is 100% correct? We live in the 400 block of East Central Ave. We are retired, I am disabled, the budget is tight. Scared we might actually have a major leak.
Cindy Monticue
Bluffton
