Letter to the editor: Mayor addresses water bills

Editor:

In response to questions about the water bills that you received this past week, I know that there were a lot of mad and frustrated customers after receiving their bills. We are frustrated as well and are working hard to get the problems corrected.

Part of the issues are contractor-related as we found that many of the pits were not set up properly to transmit readings to the town hall. Some of you have also commented that you checked the meter reading yourself on the meter that is connected to your house. Any meters that are connected to the side of your house or in your house are the old meters that should have been taken out, as they are not connected to the new water meters.

There have also been some comments that people have gotten into the new meter pits to check readings, and have even taken pictures. Because this system is required to be a secure system it is a felony for you to enter and/or remove the lid to the new meter pits, so if you have done this in the past please don’t do it again.

Unfortunately, this billing also came at a time when usage has increased due to irrigating and outdoor activities are increasing, so rather than make adjustments prior to mailing the bills we chose to send the bills with the usage as read. It is our belief that the meters are working correctly, however we have been reprogramming many of the radios and repairing other installation issues, and we are finding that not all meter readings have been transmitting correctly.

Adjustments are being made on those accounts that appear to have erroneous readings, and those adjustments are being made for individuals either before having made a payment, or for those who have already paid their bill without considering that there may have been an issue with the billing.

If you believe that your bill might have been one of those bills, please call down to town hall and the staff will make what adjustments they can. Please remember when you call that the staff had nothing to do with the way the readings transmitted, so please don’t take your frustrations out on them.

Taking your frustration out on employees that are trying to do their job not only applies to town employees. Remember when you enter any business in Saratoga. those employees are doing their best to serve us. You may be having a bad day or the employee could even be having a bad day. but taking our frustration out on them is not appropriate. Remember, that employee may be your husband, wife, son, daughter, or just a good friend and they deserve to be treated with respect.

Borrowing a verse from Alabama’s “ 40 Hour Week” I would like to say to all the employees that work in the businesses in Saratoga “ Thank You For Your Time.”

Mayor John Zeiger

Saratoga