HOUSTON Around 50 Houstonians incorrectly paid a sample water bill meant to clear up the new drainage fee, city officials confirmed Wednesday.
The mailings looked similar to an actual bill, but had the word sample written in light gray lettering. Some residents complained it was too light to see and that other numbers on the page suggested it was a real bill.
City officials said it was meant to inform the public of the upcoming drainage fee, which takes effect next month.
But the fake bill also included a refuse fee, which the city doesn t have.
Mayor Annise Parker s administration says it has since corrected the problem but only after 80,000 copies had been mailed.
God love Houstonians, Parker said. Some people paid them. And we're going to give them credit on their bills for next month when they're actually due.
Parker s comments came after a spokesman for the public works and engineering department tried to downplay the oversight, saying the residents should have noticed that it was a sample bill.
We can't control what the public does, Alvin Wright said.
New versions of the sample bill are more clearly marked with the letter X where the amount due would be and no reference to any refuse fee.
But critics of the administration say the mistake should ve never happened.
(It's) a waste of taxpayer money, said council member Mike Sullivan. It's bad management. It's poor oversight. And frankly, I'm embarrassed as a council member that we did this to our constituents and I want to publicly apologize to them.
Len Martin, a southeast Houston resident, noticed it was a sample bill before he paid it, but admited it's very confusing. Martin said he was more upset with the higher-than-expected cost of his drainage fee, which voters approved last year.
People are so upset, he said. (It s) our city at work.
