Purchase of utility leading to problems

073008 neshorelines 2 drew.dixon@shorelines.com Some Ponte Vedra residents deal with wildly fluctuating bills and bad water.--> Last modified 7/30/2008 - 6:59 am
Originally created 073008
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Some Ponte Vedra residents deal with wildly fluctuating bills and bad water.

By DREW DIXON, Shorelines

PONTE VEDRA BEACH - St. Johns County's recent purchase of Intercoastal Utilities water and sewer service is causing some mistakes in billing and issues with water quality, which government managers acknowledge need to be worked out in the period of transition.

Clara Cowan, president of the homeowners association in the Seaside subdivision, said monthly bills to several customers in her neighborhood are wildly high while some homeowners are reporting stench and discoloration in the water.

Cowan said she budgets about $3,500 a year to pay for water and sewer fees but that her monthly June bill alone was $3,940.

"Needless to say, that caused a little panic," Cowan said Monday.

The county closed on the purchase of Intercoastal in December. It was the second northern county utility purchase for the county in as many years after the county purchased St. Johns Service Co. in 2006.

County Utility Department Director Bill Young acknowledged issues are popping up as county workers continue work on the transition. Meter reading and the resulting billing to customers is chief among the problems.

"We've encountered quite a few meter issues with the newly acquired system, Intercoastal. We found over 300 meters that were stuck or in error. We've had to make quite a few billing adjustments," Young said.

Complaints are handled case-by-case, Young said. But the county is willing to review each dispute, especially on billing, he said.

The county bought the utilities in part to institute its conservation billing, which discourages overuse of water, Young said.

Under the county's billing system, a customer using 5,000 gallons of water and sewer service each month is billed $42.73 per month and $190.47 for every 40,000 gallons of service used each month.

The Intercoastal system had problems in quality and facilities which have to be repaired, Young said. Those issues have also prompted complaints.

"The horrible odor and taste of the water is not even fit for rinsing after brushing [teeth]," Marilyn Villar wrote in a July 12 e-mail to the county. "I am using bottled water to rinse my mouth after brushing my teeth. ... We are bathing and using this water for cooking as well. It is unacceptable."

"We are working on that. That's a chlorine feed problem," Young said. "The chlorine will help dissipate the sulfur smell in the water."

The treatment plants in the Plantation and Sawgrass subdivisions are being worked on, Young said. He said the occasional water discoloration is being addressed.

"We are working very hard putting quite a bit of money into those systems [and] bringing them up to our standards," Young said.

While the county will continue to adjust and credit billing inaccuracies, Young said some complaints are a result of overuse of water.

"Some of the people complaining are just really high-end users," Young said. "As we made everybody aware from the beginning, high-end users who use 20,000, 30,000 or 40,000 gallons per month are going to see a bill increase because we have a conservation rate structure in which you pay more as you use more."

Still, 80 percent of the Intercoastal customers the county assumed control over had no bill increase and many have seen a reduction, Young said.

Drew Dixon can also be reached at (904) 249-4947, ext. 6313.