By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
The city of Yachats will proceed with a $24,000 study of its water rates to possibly help correct billing mistakes made more than three years ago but only recently discovered.
The City Council voted 4-1 last week to have a Eugene-based water consortium conduct the study, which should take 6-8 weeks.
The vote came two months after the Public Works and Streets Commission pressed the council to address what it says are mistakes in water bills averaging $1,000 a month citywide.
Another mistake – a double billing for capital improvements of all customers ranging from 55 cents to $1.10 per month — was corrected in May.
The water bill mistake leading to the rate study was discovered by Tom Lauritzen, a retired accountant and former city finance consultant, and confirmed by Public Works chairman Bob Bennett and member Tom Fisher.
Lauritzen did the original study that discovered the mistake – after a rate adjustment in February 2016 the city has under-charged five large water users a total of $34,000 and over-charged three large users $11,000.
Bennett and Fisher double-checked Lauritzen’s work by going back through five months of 2018 records – agreeing with his numbers and that the problem continues.
The names of the businesses have not made public, but they are motels, restaurants, an assisted living facility and a large apartment complex. Bennett said the 10 customers use 40 percent of the city’s water.
The council’s vote to authorize the study was 4-1, with Leslie Vaaler voting no.
Vaaler, a retired college math professor, expressed confidence in the Public Works numbers, offered to check them herself and argued the $24,000 study was unnecessary and would take too long.
“We have a responsibility to get on with this,” she said. “We owe it to the large customers to notify them, to come up with good numbers and do this quickly.”
The Public Works commission earlier recommended the city alert the large customers of the issue, that a water bill adjustment was looming, to refund over-payments to three businesses but not try to collect under-payments from the other five.
“The problem is continuing,” Bennett told the council. “We need to get this fixed.”
Some council members worried that adjusting bills for large customers now then possibly making another after the water study would be too confusing without proper notice. Others wondered about the accuracy of the Public Works’ numbers.
But Lauritzen told them his numbers came from “real meter readings” after a public records request to the city.
“The numbers can’t be more accurate,” he said.
City Manager Shannon Beaucaire told the council that the city’s conversion to a new accounting and billing system in July complicates any immediate adjustments to water rates. She also hinted that the problem could extend to more than 10 large customers.
Helen Anderson, chair of the Planning Commission, advised council members that the animosity created by surprising a handful of business owners with new, large water bills during the summer was not worth $1,000 a month if the issue could be fixed in 3-4 months.
Mayor John Moore and council members Jim Tooke, Max Glenn and James Kerti agreed.
“We want to do this once,” Kerti said. “Let’s not surprise people.”
