Resident gets weird water bill
You could be next
LEE ZION, EDITOR
Harrison County Times-Reporter
John Cocking looks at two water bills, side by side. One of them doesn’t make sense. Cocking picks up the water bill on the left and looks it over.
“Who is it from? It’s from the water company, from the city of Missouri Valley. Who is it to? John Cocking,” he said. “And here’s the summary of my bill, right here. Here’s the detail of my bill. There is no doubt that I owe, because they showed me how, and what it amounts to.”
Now on to the bill he received late last month, which he set on the right. Almost all text is missing from it.
“Who’s it from? It’s absent. Who’s it to? It’s absent. What’s the bill? It’s got the detail here, but whose bill is it? It does not say, does it? It does have my address,” he said.
“That’s not how it’s supposed to be.”
Cocking went to the city hall last week. Not to complain, but to give them information, he said.
City staff told him his address is on the bill. But that didn’t make things any easier.
“I said, ‘Who’s at that address? Who’s gonna pay the bill? The address is not going to pay the bill. And who do you pay it to? There’s no origin,’” he said.
The city clerk told him the problem was caused by the city changing over to a new system. That didn’t make things any easier, either.
“They’re being changed by somebody that is incompetent for the work that is to be done,” Cocking said.
One part of the problem was taken care of during his visit. The city printed out a new bill that had the correct information. Also, he has AutoPay, so it’s likely the correct amount will be deducted from his bank account on Aug. 22.
Even so, there’s a chance that he might have tossed that bill — with its nonsensical numbers — in the trash, figuring it was just junk mail. Then he could have faced a penalty.
Also, if he got a weird bill like that, other people might, as well. Cocking urged people to pay attention, and not throw an oddball letter in the trash.
Turri Colglazier, administrator and city clerk for the city of Missouri Valley, said the nonsense-looking bill would make perfect sense if it had arrived on a postcard, which has all the text filled in already. He had downloaded his bill from his email, so it came without the text.
“I think the issue is resolved going forward. I don’t think it can go back,” she said.
Colglazier said there is more than one way to download the text off the email. If he had chosen a different way, the bill would come out making sense.
“It’s kind of a funky thing right now, but I am working on it. So if it’s not fixed, I’ll try something else next month,” she said.
