HOUSTON — After more than an hour of discussion Wednesday, the Houston City Council delayed a vote on nine proposed ordinances that would address high water bills in the city.
After Public Works Director Carol Haddock went over the proposals and answered questions from councilmembers, Mayor Sylvester Turner called for a vote.
But Council Member Michael Kubosh put the kibosh on the vote saying he had not had enough time to review the proposals.
"Mayor, I'm going to tag this matter," Kubosh said.
"Oh no," Turner replied as he looked at Kubosh in disbelief.
"Come on," Council Member Tiffany Thomas replied.
"I know you lying," someone else said.
But he wasn't lying and the vote was delayed until next week.
"I thought about tagging it early. In fact, I was encouraged if I was gonna tag it, tag it early, but I wanted to hear everything that they had to say," Kubosh explained after the meeting.
He said he's concerned about limiting back-billing of residential customers to three months.
"Hopefully we can get an amendment to extend it to at least six months, perhaps a year," Kubosh said.
That issue was first proposed by
Council Member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz helped put that issue up for a vote. She was disappointed by the delay.
"I know that it's only delayed a week, but a week delay certainly impacts people that are in these dire situations," Evans-Shabazz said.
It was also frustrating for water customers.
“I actually came down missed work partially to come down to hear this resolution and to hear that it was tagged is very, very disappointing because it would have given relief to so many people," Niya Valentine told us. "And it was supposed to be immediate, and so now we just have to wait a little longer.”
Valentine said her bill is typically $40 but it jumped to nearly $10,000. She was able to get her bill adjusted but knows there are many others in the same boat who still need help.
"I'm really confident that they will do the right thing, but it just was disappointing that it couldn't happen right away," Valentine said.
Houstonians drowning in high water bills
Over the past year, KHOU 11 has reported on outrageously high water bills for many Houston residents, including a 90-year-old woman who got a bill for $58,000.
“I've talked to the water company more than three times, only by myself, trying to get this settled and no consideration,” Naomi Brazle told us back in May.
More recently, Arwen Wallet told us his bill which is normally $4,000 to $7,000 was $97,000.
Wayne Hanks' bill jumped from $35 to $3,150.
We've helped several homeowners get to the bottom of their big bills and our reports caught the city's attention.
Mayor Sylvester Turner released details about the proposed ordinances in a Monday news conference.
He explained current ordinances restrict the city’s ability to respond to customers with unusually high water bills.
“Quite frankly, these ordinances are outdated,” Turner said.
They were created under the assumption that all of the equipment would work properly, Turner said, but that hasn't been the case.
“Today we are faced with a high number of failing meter reading devices due to the aged infrastructure,” the mayor said. “And the city must rely on a much higher number of estimated readings.”
Nine proposals to address unusually high water bills
Turner said city leaders have spent months working on a plan to address the issues. He detailed the proposed ordinance changes if approved by city council.
- Customer services will be equipped with the tools and resources necessary to resolve the majority of disputes on the first call.
- Remove limit to the number of times customers can get adjustments for water leaks each year.
- Add incentives for customers who repair their water leak within 30 days of receiving their water bill. Those bills will be adjusted to their average usage. If the repair is completed 31-60 days after receiving the bill, they will get a 75% adjustment. Repairs completed more than 60 days after the bill is received will result in a 50% adjustment.
- A customer can qualify for a full credit if the leak costs more than $1,000 or $100 for low-income residents. Under the current ordinance, those amounts were $2,000 and $250.
- The maximum relief offered will be lowered from 150% to 125% of the customer’s average bill.
- In cases where the cause of the increase is unknown, the adjustment threshold to qualify for adjustments will be lowered from five times the average bill to twice the average bill. The adjustment limit will be raised from $4,000 to $10,000.
- Customers no longer using water at properties they own are no longer required to pay a private contractor to remove the meter at a cost of as much as $1,500. Instead, the City will lock the meter for a one-time fee of $150. There would be no fee to reactivate the meter.
- Customers who sign up for online-only bills will get a 50-cent credit each month.
- Officially do away with back billing over three months
“As we work to replace the technology, improve the technology, correct the technology, these nine proposed changes will cover pretty much every customer out there to make sure that they get an accurate bill.”
If the changes are approved, they will take effect immediately, according to Turner.
Public Works also quietly rolled out a new water usage alert portal over the weekend.