NEWBURYPORT — Mayor John Moak expects a solution to emerge from tonight's meeting with the Water and Sewer commissions to resolve the issue of huge water bills sent to dozens of residents.
Moak said options have been discussed by officials and that the commissioners "will definitely come up with something" at the meeting.
"Will we keep everyone happy? Absolutely not," the mayor said.
Moak said the solution the boards come to tonight may not include full relief of the bills.
The problems arose when homeowners on the first two residential billing lists started complaining about enormous half-year water bills; $18,000 was the highest reported. Many others reported higher-than-normal bills in the $8,000 range, and others said they got bills of about $3,000. The typical half-year bill is about $400.
City officials say the problem stems from the replacement of old water meters with modern, more accurate equipment. But a number of factors also point to the long-standing practice of issuing estimated usage bills rather than ones based on actual readings and faulty remote readers that gave inaccurate numbers.
The estimates and the remote readers — which only some residents used — were underrecording actual use, which was finally calculated when the meter was replaced. Since the complaints started to pour in, city officials have scrambled to figure out a solution.
Water Commission members voted to recommend a plan that would forgive those with large water bills from paying the excess amount, using a "hybrid" bill that combines the past bills and the readings from the new radio meters.
Under that plan, Brendan O'Regan, director of public services, roughly estimated the city would lose about $670,000 in revenue. But the Water Commission's recommendation did not sit well with the Sewer Commission, which decided not to sign on to the plan.
The mayor said he did not have exact details on what would be decided tonight but did know some of the solutions being discussed.
For the underestimated bills, for instance, Moak said the boards are leaning toward prorating the usage the residents weren't charged for based on rates during the time in which they weren't paying.
For instance, if a person received a bill indicating they needed to pay for 20,000 gallons they didn't pay for over a five-year period, that amount would be divided over those years, and the rate for a particular year would be used to calculate the amount owed.
Moak said the commissions also will likely extend the time line in which people are allotted to pay bills.
"That's how we are looking at it right now," Moak said. "That is what they've seemed to come up with."
The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. at the City Hall auditorium.
