ALPINE — Following approval of a new utility billing software in March, the Alpine City Council took an initial look at updating city water meters during its Tuesday meeting with the hopes of improving the efficiency of meter readings and assuring customers of their accuracy.
During the meeting, council members heard City Manager Megan Antrim describe a project that would update current meters with equipment that would link to a base station to read meters without actual home visits. It also would allow city water users to access an online portal with information regarding their water usage.
Antrim proposed to council that the city begin a pilot test of the equipment. The test would call for the construction of one base station and updating a mixture of 50 residential and commercial meters that would include those of council members. The cost of the pilot project would be about $27,795, said Antrim.
Responding to questions from councilmembers Reagan Stone and Darin Nance regarding why council members were being included over city residents and the cost of the project, Antrim said that including council members would enable them to gather the information they would need to make future decisions regarding the project and that the city budget has $150,000 set aside for the project.
Antrim estimated the cost of updating meters throughout the city would be about $1 million if the pilot project was found to be successful and the City Council voted to move forward.
The hope is that the pilot program will be successful and that, along with the new utilities billing software approved by the council in March, residents will see more accurate billing and increased accessibility to information regarding charges, said Utility Billing Supervisor Carmen Rodriguez in an interview.
These actions come as some Alpine residents are using local Facebook groups to complain about sudden, unexplained increases in their bills and repeat billing for the same water usage. “I hold my breath every single month in fear of that bill jumping to the outrageous amounts that I have seen and heard about,” wrote one site member.
While her department has received some complaints this year, the number has not been more than past years or what could be considered normal, said Rodriguez. “We have encountered some complaints regarding high water bills but not out of the normal,” she said.
According to Rodriguez, those complaints were investigated according to city procedure, and in some cases, leaks were found. “We start every single situation that we encounter by issuing a special read. Then, once that comes back, based on what that says, we move forward with a meter test. The meter test is the one that helps us. It could determine whether they have a water leak or if the meter is at fault,” Rodriguez said.
According to previous reporting by The Big Bend Sentinel, the city of Marfa recently approved a project to update its water meters. The Marfa project was estimated to run about $800,000. Marfa is still studying how to fund the project, and it’s likely that no significant action will be taken on the plan until a new city manager is hired and budget discussions begin for next fiscal year, according to Marfa City Secretary Kelly Perez.
In looking at the project, Marfa leaders said they hoped it would free city workers from the time it took to read the meters and improve accuracy of billing.