Water & sewer changes

By Andrea Gregory

Long lines to pay off a bill could soon be a thing of the past if more residents take advantage of the city’s move to streamline the process.

Taking care of water and sewer bills can now be handled via the Internet. It is the latest in the city’s online payment options. Only a few people have taken advantage of it so far. But over the past few years, an increasing number of residents have turned to the Internet to pay taxes and bills.

“I think a lot of people will use it,” said Bill Fowler, treasurer and collector. “I expect this to be used by the same people paying property taxes online.”

Online use has been on the rise for paying taxes since the service was first introduced three years back. The amount of people taking advantage of the online payment option for real estate tax has more than doubled since it was first offered, he said.

In addition to new payment options, some residents are seeing just how far their money goes when it comes to the work of the water and sewer department.  About once a week a resident calls the city with a water or sewer problem. Technically, these issues are usually private matters and not the city’s problem. However, that has not stopped city workers from lending a hand to private citizens in emergency situations.

A year ago, Carol Antonelli, water and sewer superintendent, proposed the idea. She has been with the department for 30 years and was feeling sympathy for residents caught up in emergency situations. The way the city used to respond was handing over a list of qualified private workers after it was established the problem was not on city property.

“It is pretty devastating when you have sewage backing up into your basement,” she said. “I think a lot of people assume the city should be doing it. They were surprised when they heard we couldn’t. It just didn’t make sense to me that we wouldn’t go the extra step.”

Antonelli’s call fits into the mayor’s push to make city government more customer friendly.  Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone unveiled his agenda to focus on the customer service aspect of running a city at the start of the year. It is part of an ongoing initiative aimed at building a stronger relationship between the city and its people. Some of the changes include putting more bill paying options online, using mystery shoppers to check up on departments (see sidebar) and seeking out new ways to make city government run more efficiently from a resident’s perspective.

“The mayor is all about customer service and it fits into what his program and vision are for the city,” said Antonelli. “It is just a nice service that we extend to the public.”

The city does not provide the work a contractor would perform. And it is usually emergency-type situations when anything is done, she said. The city sends workers out to check the lines when there is a problem anyway to determine if the problem is on city or private property. The thought was it would not be too much harder just to help out a little. Antonelli said it is up to the discretion of the department whether the problem is one city employees can assist in solving. And if the city does fix something, it is then up to the property owner to follow up with a private contractor if more work is needed.  Antonelli emphasized there is a big difference between a clogged toilet and backed up sewage pouring onto a basement floor. Also, it is a courtesy of the city, not an obligation, she said.

“This particular topic is a national topic,” said Stan Koty, Department of Public Works commissioner, mentioning he has heard of other municipalities venturing into the same kind of set up that Somerville has. “It shows people what they are paying for their services.”

Antonelli said the city occasionally has paid overtime to its workers, covering jobs in private homes. However, the workers needed to show up to the site to rule out the possibility of problem in its own pipes. Under contract, the city must pay its water and sewer employees a minimum of four hours overtime when they are called for extra work regardless of the time spent. So it is not occurring an additional cost to help out residents.

“How do you go in and give people a list and say ‘Hey, it’s your problem’?” said Koty. “I think it is a very positive step we are taking.”

Comments

[question]

Question.....is this news, or a huge campaign ad?
Also, not to sound like Newman or the other nit-pickers, but spell check doesn't pick up 'occurring' when it's spelled correctly, but the usage is wrong. It's one of those things that you just need to know!

[Water Fall]

Does anyone know why the City does not charge the Fire Dept, School Dept., or any other agency a water bill? Some of the City’s within the MWRA field charge their own departments for water and sewage usage. Yes, Fire, Police, Schools and even the DPW are charge for what they use, not passed onto the residence of their City. They don’t do this is Somerville, their usage from within the City buildings is charge back to us through “Let’em Pay for It”. This wasn’t created by this Mayor by no means, but has been “Status Quo” from the beginning. I think something should be done and someone should take a look at this practice.

What this does is takes the City's proportion out of the use of MRWA bills leaving a true customer bill. And, the City is responsible for paying their own way instead of a City such a Somerville, spreading around their portion of the bill to us the consumer. Why shouldn’t each entity of the City be charged for their usage? Water conservation might then improve across the board since I am a skeptical, which if it isn’t my house, “Let it Run”. The Mayor has taken these kinds of steps in the past with other City wastes, why not here?

Request bills from the Schools and I would venture a guess there are none because there are no meter. If there are meters, they are not producing bills. With the Pool facility at the Kennedy school, do you expect that to be tacked onto your bill? Well it is. With the five fire stations around the City, when the good weather comes, they clean the apparatus once a week, by hose. Where do you expect that water usage and sewage usage is being spread around too? With each flush of the Mayor’s private restroom, each time he flushes, which is probably a considerable amount, where do you expect that usage to be spread out too? Each and every instance it is we the citizens of this City.

I think we have been flushed down the drain on this one.

[No Barneys]

good idea, and when there is a fire, the city can charge the homeowner for the use of hydrant water too. Hey, how about coin machines at school water fountains...."OK Billy, one sip for a dime". I say every time a street sweeper fills up, we charge the DPW a fee. This all sounds stupid, yes it does just like Water Falls post. You want the City to charge its own departments a water fee, then they turn the bill over to the City who pays it anyway.

[SomervilleReader]

I guess, Water Fall, I don't quite understand what the problem is. If the city bills each of its agencies for their water usage, that money is eventually going to get paid out of money that comes from taxes. I would guess that the vast majority of city residents who pay water bills also pay taxes. One way or another, we're going to pay for our government's water usage. I don't actually mind paying for my fair share of water for use in our schools, fire departments, etc.

But, maybe I'm missing something here. Were you hoping to make a point about how this billing situation is unfair? If so, perhaps more clarification is needed.

[Did I say that out loud??]

I think that although the tax payers will ultimately pay for all city property water bills, it would be nice if there were a record somewhere of the actual water usage as there is for our homes. This way we could see if there was waste, or even a broken or dripping pipe causing higher-than normal usage. It would also assure the taxpayers, of course, that there is no fraud involved and that we are paying only for CITY PROPERTY. Just a thought (was that too cynical???)

[Ward 3 Voter]

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. WATER BILLS, GASOLINE, ELECTRIC BILLS, CAR INSURANCE. BANKS GETTING 19% ON CREDIT CARDS CHARGES AND THE COMSUMERS LIKE US ONLY GET LIKE 2.5% INTEREST ON OUR SAVINGS BANKS AND CHECK ACCOUNTS. WHATS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

So the water bills are going up that doesn't surprise me. Someone tell me. Is this like the old days when Dukakis was governor (in the 80s) when someone flushed or should i say pull the chain when they go the bathroom someone at the MWRA got a raise. If the city of Somerville didn't get paid these high salaries they would fell the pinch also. again ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

Ward 3 Voter

[Water Fall]

To: "Did I say that out loud: Yes you have kind of hit the head of the nail as to what I was trying to explain. But to put it in better perspective, all other utilities are metered and the water one is not.

Yes, each department would then have to watch their use of water but it would be a good indicator as to who is using or abusing water. The gas, and electrical bills are paid by the DPW by facility why not the water bill?

If there is an Energy Czar, which there should be with all the hoop-la that was generated about a year ago, then he/she should be watching all utilities for conservation and savings.

The City is the ones that generate the water and sewage bills and Comm. Koty and Sup. Anntonelli are the ones that control it. This alone should be a concern to us residence.. So what is there to hide? Accountability is what we are talking about

[alot of ???'s and uknown answers.... just waiting for a call back...]

Im having a hard time understanding why the water department is getting all types of credit for the work that is being done around the city. The actual water department itself does not even do the work, all the work is done by a private contractor. which seems a little funny cause Mr S.K himself is known to not like private contractors. but its funny how the guys the he is suppose to not like do all the work around the city and make his water and sewer guys look like heroes. between the two depts there is close to 10 guys, each guys has there own title and position they are required to fill. but if you look and see how well they do there jobs you will soon notice its not to well. all those guys do is watch over the private contractor do all the work while the clean a catch basing or two. when was the last time that the water dept actually dug there own hole?? its been a long time, and in this case the city pays there regular guys their salary and also pays large amounts of money to the contractor. so the city and basically paying more then double what they should just to get a few simple water jobs done. so not only is it costing them a ton of money which im sure is a big hit to there so called "high priced bills" but it makes the water and sewer dept look like heroes when really they are a bunch of guys that do nothing all day and get paid for it. then they have the nerve to cry about overtime when they dont even work the regular time that they should. it just seems a little funny or rather weird how that works... i dont see private contractors doing work for any other departments in the DPW to make them look good like the water and sewer guys are right now...

[311]

The city of Somerville has a 311 calling system...

Where is the accountability for the water department when a private contractor does all the work for them????

[Ward 3 Voter]

WATERBILLS WATERRATES = PAYRAISES FOR CITY EMPLOYEES AND THE MASSACHUSETTS WATER RESOURCES AUTHORITY