Aqua speaks to Lake Milton water bill snafus

No water will be shut off, and no late fees imposed during the billing transition.

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

LAKE MILTON — Officials of Aqua Ohio promised to rectify problems associated with their installation of new billing software.

“We’re serious about getting this situation resolved. It will get resolved. ... You won’t get cheated,” Walter “Buzz” Pishkur, president of Aqua Ohio, told about 40 people at Tuesday’s special meeting of Milton Township trustees.

Area residents began inquiring and complaining about high bills, late bills or a lack of bills after Aqua switched to new billing software May 1.

“We have some problems, but we’ve gone to work on them,” said Aqua’s district manager, Al Sauline. “Hopefully, by the end of September, we’re going to have the majority of the problems worked out.”

For 20 years, the investor-owned Aqua has been doing the billing for the Mahoning County Sanitary Engineer’s Office, which serves about 1,300 water and sewer customers in Jackson and Milton townships. The county sets water rates and reads the meters.

Extra help for problems

Sauline said Aqua will station one of its employees at the sanitary engineer’s office on Industrial Road to help resolve billing problems. He also said the company has added telephone lines and staff at its North Carolina call center to expedite response to customer calls.

“Once we get through this [transition], I think we’re going to have a state-of-the-art procedure,’’ Sauline said.

When actual readings are obtained, these will “true up” bills that were estimated, Pishkur said, noting that water meters read consecutively like a car’s odometer.

“We’re having problems right now, and we’re going to own up to that, and we’re going to fix it,” he vowed. “The responsibility [for billing] lies with Aqua. We’ll work with the county to get it resolved.”

Joseph Warino, county sanitary engineer, said the county will set up a payment plan to work with customers facing financial hardship, and credits will be issued to those whose bills were overestimated. Warino also said no late fees will be imposed and no customer’s water will be shut off as the county and Aqua work to resolve the problems associated with Aqua’s billing software transition.

Sanitary engineer’s office staff distributed inquiry and complaint forms to be filled out by those in attendance and returned to that county office.

One family’s billing

Tim Cline, of Myrtle Avenue, Lake Milton, complained his monthly water bills, which ranged from $61 to $107 between November and April, rose to $124 for June and skyrocketed to $237 for July. His family’s monthly water consumption consistently averages 5,000 to 6,000 gallons, but his May and June bills were based on estimates of 11,000 gallons consumed each month, and his July bill reported a 21,000 gallon reading, he said, calling the 21,000 reading erroneous.

“I believe them — that they’re going to try to fix the problem, but they’re still not addressing: ‘Am I going to have to pay the $237 bill?’’’ or why water consumption estimates are so high, said Cline. He coordinated the effort to promote attendance at the meeting and resolution of the billing concerns.

“We’re going to see what happens when we fill out our forms and send them in,” he said after the meeting. “I just hope everything goes well and that water bills get back to normal.”