Since my time in office, I have focused on the overall success of the city administration. Today I am focusing on something near and dear to us all, and that is water.
The Lake City Water Department provides an essential service. One must only experience coming home and finding no water to know how essential it is.
Let me share with you how we provide so much with so little. All meter routes are read each month. The routes are to be read, edited, and finished by the last week of each month to allow balancing, printing of bills and posting of all accounts.
The following is a step-by-step process for the meter route that is approved and audited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture:
1. Meter routes begin the second week of each month to allow for 12 to 15 working days’ reading time. There are 15 routes to be read.
2. All accounts are listed on meter sheets or recorded in handheld devices for readings. This includes all active and inactive accounts.
3. Once all meters are read, reports are reviewed by office personnel for variances in use or accounts with no reading.
4. Accounts are selected from the reports and given to the line maintenance crew for further verification of accuracy.
5. Finally, bills are posted, printed and mailed.
We do this for 3,500 customers each month. Our capacity is 6.5 million gallons per day and growing, yet our rates are much lower than contemporary cities around the state. Standard use per household is around 6,000 gallons per month. Those gallons in Lake City cost you only $13.04; in Kingstree, $16.72; Georgetown, $21.63; Coward, $16.60; and Florence, $20.40. There are a few lower than us by small amounts, but many more that are substantially higher.
My point in sharing all of this with you is to remind all of us that as the city’s cost to provide this services has grown (i.e. wages, electric bills, replacement parts and equipment), we can still turn that faucet on and know water is there.
As we move forward, improvement in water operations must occur. We need modern meters and faster reading devices. We must shorten the billing cycle so that meters are read, readings verified and bills mailed within a 30-day cycle in addition to servicing equipment.
Customers must pay bills timely and avoid cutoffs and late penalties. These steps are necessary to ensure every gallon of water is paid for and that the city collects enough money to improve the system.
These steps will assure quality services at a low price, and everyone will be better served.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement