THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 6, 1996 TAG: 9607060350
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 94 lines
6 bills will be sent per year - not 16.
The amount of the bills will rise.
The fees themselves won't change.
Under a plan unveiled this week, most residents and business owners will pay only six water and sewer bills a year instead of 16.
By combining Virginia Beach water and storm water management bills with the Hampton Roads Sanitation District's sewage treatment bills, the city will save residents and business owners the hassle and cost of multiple payments.
However, because the fees aren't changing, the consolidated bills will be a lot fatter than the old ones.
Under the combined system, which will begin later this summer, bills will go out every other month, and the average customer will be charged just over $100.
Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said this week that she is concerned about how the consolidated bills will affect people's budgeting.
``It's going to come as a large bill to swallow,'' Oberndorf said when presented with the plan at a council work session Tuesday.
Clarence O. Warnstaff, director of public utilities for the city, said that although the bills will be larger, customers already are paying nearly the same amount on roughly the same schedule.
Now, the average residential water customer owes nearly $20 every other month to HRSD for wastewater treatment and $78 to Virginia Beach at about the same time for water, conveying sewage to the HRSD treatment network, and administering the water billing and meter system. Four times a year, Beach property owners are charged a storm water management fee of just over $8.
Under the new system, instead of writing separate checks to HRSD and the Virginia Beach city treasurer, customers will send their payments to the Hampton Roads Utility Billing Service - or HRUBS.
They will have 30 days to pay the combined bill, vs. 20 days for city water and sewer under the current setup. There will be no reminder notices under the new billing system.
Customers will receive a warning notice the day after the bill's due date.
Their water service will be terminated two weeks later if the bill is not paid and if the customer has not contacted the city or HRSD to make arrangements for a payout.
The only loser under the new system is the post office: The bill consolidation is expected to save Beach customers and taxpayers $345,000 a year and the city about $425,000 a year in stamps.
Norfolk and James City County already have consolidated their utility bills with HRSD's, and the savings have been significant, James R. Borberg, HRSD general manager, said. The combined billing system has worked well in those cities, he said.
``The biggest problem is that people who work in Norfolk and live in Virginia Beach keep asking, `When are you going to do it in Virginia Beach?''' he said.
The Beach's new billing system was supposed to have started July 1, but technical problems pushed the start-up date to Sept. 1. Because bills are sent out bimonthly as meters are read, some residents might not see their first consolidated bill until late October or early November.
Customers should ``recognize that it takes us two months to go through a complete billing cycle,'' Warnstaff said.
``Some customers will be hearing about this change but still may receive their bills under the old system, because we do not read all 117,000 meters on one day - it's spread out over 60 days. It's going to take us a complete cycle to get through all of this.''
There are still a few glitches to be worked out before the changes are started.
At Tuesday's City Council meeting, council member Barbara M. Henley, who represents the Pungo Borough, uncovered a problem for people who don't buy city water and sewer service.
Under the new system, they would actually get extra bills every year, rather than fewer, because their storm water management fees would be billed six times a year rather than four.
Those customers will be allowed to pay the annual amount in full, rather than writing six checks for $5.48, Warnstaff said.
``We want this to be a truly customer service enhancement, so we're going to try to build as much flexibility as we can into our billing system,'' Warstaff said.
``We want this to be a cost service enhancer, not a bureaucracy creator.'' MEMO: FOR DETAILS
For questions, customers and taxpayers will still have to refer to
the individual agencies that provide the services. For information about
city water and sewer service, contact the Public Utilities Department at
427-4631 weekdays between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
For information on storm water management, call the Public Works
Department at 426-5859 weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. And for
information on wastewater treatment, contact the Hampton Roads
Sanitation District at 460-2491 weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic - New utility bill replaces three current
bills
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH WATER DEPARTMENT VIRGINIA BEACH PUBLIC
UTILITIES by CNB