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Sewer-billing woes prompt city takeover
Sewer-billing woes prompt city takeover
By MIKE KLIMKO
A move by Solon officials to take charge of the billing of property owners tied into the sanitary sewer system drew support last week from City Council's finance committee.
A switch from billing provided by Cleveland would require the addition of a clerk who would work out of the engineering department, according to city officials.
Inaccurate billing provided by Cleveland, including fees for quarterly estimates and one actual reading of meters each year, led Solon officials to consider the change.
The committee voted 3-0 in authorizing the finance and public works departments to move forward with the plan. Sewer bills are based on the consumption of Cleveland water.
The sewer-billing clerk most likely will be hired after the first of the year, following the posting of the position and interviews of candidates, Finance Director D. William Weber said.
"Under the supervision of the accounting supervisor, the sewer-billing clerk creates, maintains and updates sanitary sewer bills and customer information," Mr. Weber said in drafting the job description.
"The sewer-billing clerk is the liaison between residents and the city regarding sewer-billing matters and will assist residents with questions related to their water bills from the Cleveland division of water."
The responsibilities of the clerk work would include: establishing accounts for consumers tapping into the sanitary system; drawing up and mailing invoices based on the effective sewer rates; accepting payment from sewer customers and preparing a deposit summary for each day; keeping record of billing and receipts and preparing reports of specific records when necessary or requested; record, update and recall accounts from the billing database; prepare notices of delinquent accounts and follow through to the resolution of payment; perform other related duties.
Sewer bills could be printed by the city or farmed out to a contractor, as determined by council, Mr. Weber said. Solon has paid $139,000 to Cleveland as billing charge for all accounts, he said.
Cleveland officials have not kept up with delinquent accounts, Mr. Weber said, and Solon could do a better job on keeping track of unpaid balances.
Solon could conduct its own meter readings or continue to rely on Cleveland. Readings by Solon would mean that Cleveland would not send personnel to Solon at $4.31 per reading for each account, Mr. Weber said.
Problems with the accuracy of billing by Cleveland continue to increase, accounting supervisor Susan Stabilla said. Cleveland does not follow Solon ordinances and does not penalize for nonpayment, she said.
A number of complaints from customers were due to two years of estimated readings followed by a huge bill based on an actual reading, she said.
Even though the $4.31 charged customers for each meter reading would be dropped if the city takes over billing, she said, Cleveland could charge $2.74 to Solon to buy the reading of each meter.
Actual readings are the best way to determine sewer billing, because customers are charged for what they actually use, Public Works Director James T. Stanek said, and more actual readings would be a plus.
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