It has been a tough year for City of Ferndale (COF) staff who handle the utility billing and subsequent responses from utility customers. In response, City staff will provide an overview Wednesday of how billing occurs and how to dispute possibly incorrect billings.
Things started out rough during last winter when hundreds of meters were frozen over and unreadable causing the city to apply estimates for some during one billing cycle and then delay billing for everyone during the next cycle. This caused billing totals to artificially and unexpectedly dip and climb.
Later, Ferndale City Council undertook increasing sewer connection fees and usage rates in order to cover the cost of expanding the capacity and incorporating new treatment methods at the City’s waste water treatment plant. This proposed increase likely caused many to look at their recent bills to determine the extent of the impact, which in turned revealed the roller coaster of billed amounts over the previous recent invoices.
Neighbors took to social media to voice their unhappiness with what they saw as wild and seemingly unexplained fluctuations while their usage habits had not changed. Then neighbors began sharing their billing amounts and discovered in some cases a house with 2 people was being billed as much or more than a house with many more occupants. This brought into question how usage is being measured and the accuracy of the meters being used.
In response to the concern and confusion, City staff will provide an overview of the billing process, how meters are read and the disputing process. They will present this information to the Public Works committee at their regular meeting Wednesday, August 2nd at 8am in the main conference room at City Hall, 2095 Main Street. This is an open meeting and the public is welcome to attend and listen to the committee discussion.
