TULSA, Okla. — Fluctuating water bills have become fairly common for some Tulsans, since the pandemic.
But when a Tulsa veteran was blindsided by a several hundred dollar notice, he asked 2News Problem Solvers for help in getting some answers.
In front of his home, where Elmer Floyd proudly flies two patriotic flags, he tells us the story of a big water bill, that he thought was a big red flag.
“I got outraged, that was ridiculous,” Elmer says.
That bill? totaling nearly $520.
“Then I was supposed to pay it before the first of next month, I’m living on a fixed income, I can’t afford to pay that kind of bill.”
Elmer says he paid every water bill, in full, on time, every month.
So why then, he wonders, did he get that several hundred-dollar bill?
“What the heck is going on?”
Here’s what we found out for Elmer.
The city had been out earlier to replace his water meter.
It apparently hadn’t been working for at least a year and hadn’t been read by a city worker either.
For all that time, the city tells us Elmer was charged the base rate of $45 dollar a month.
After that new meter was installed, the city researched past usage and average bills and back billed Floyd $85 a month.
All, Elmer says, because the city’s water meter wasn’t working properly.
“Why should I pay for maintenance on their fricking machine?”
Elmer received this letter, which says a city ordinance allows a customer to be back billed for up to 12 months of service, which in Elmer’s case, totaled $438.
He wanted to dispute it, Floyd tells us.
He claims he waited on the phone for 45 minutes just to talk to somebody since he wanted to file a complaint by phone.
“That way I don’t have to find a parking spot in downtown Tulsa, cuz I know it’s hard to find a parking spot down there, and I should be able to take care of it over the phone.”
But Elmer says he wasn’t allowed to file a complaint on the phone and was given another option … going online.
But that too, was a no-go….
“I couldn’t find out what the heck to do.”
…since Elmer says he’s not good at that technology stuff.
“It brings you up to a page, it’s got a whole bunch of stuff there, what are you supposed to click on?”
And time was running out to pay that bill before his water would be shut off, Elmer feared.
“Fix it where I can afford to pay that sucker if I’ve got to pay, but I can’t pay it all at one time, that’s kind of ridiculous.”
It makes an already thin budget, tight, Elmer says, too tight, and much too thin.
“I feel for the customer, I understand the concern and the hardship placed on him with what’s happened,” Josh Bilby, Tulsa’s Water Distribution Manager told us.
We wanted to know from the city how a water meter could go for a year without working, and nobody knew it.
“It is a long time, it’s not normal for us.”
Bilby says covid was the culprit, for both staffing issues and equipment and part shortages, including water meters.
What once took less than a month to receive, now took a year or more.
“But we got into supply chain issues, we were at their mercy.”
Much like the way Elmer was now at the mercy of the city.
“I never had a bill like that.”
At least, Elmer says, he was told he could pay that back bill over the next year.
He’ll just have to make it work, the military veteran tells us, before he heads back home, where those flags fly proudly.
The city tells us they now have hired 15 of 17 open water meter reader positions, and the lead time to get parts and water meters is 14 to 16 weeks.
Contact the Problem Solvers:
- 918-748-1502
- problemsolvers@kjrh.com
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