Monday, September 6, 2010

Kansas City Water Services Sneaks in Rate Increase

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The Water Department started billing customers monthly last July. To some of you who have never lived in Kansas City, this may not seem unusual. But as long as anyone can remember, the KCMO Water Dept has billed every 2 months. Anyway, they effectively raised the service charge by almost seven dollars per month. I suspect they thought no one would notice. Well people did notice, and they're none too happy. Water officials claim that customers have been been asking for the change to make monthly budgeting easier. Monthly budgeting easier with an almost $7 increase in fees per month?

The Water Department claims that the increase is justified partially because of the increased cost to bill monthly. What? This is the same Water Department logic that has sleeping workers wait for hours for a concrete delivery. I am amazed (but shouldn't be) at the stupidity of this - government in action. Though rates in Kansas City are still very competitive, the fact that the increase was not communicated to the public shows that Water Services Director Terry Leeds is in over his head.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The scum buckets at the Water "Services" department should be ashamed of themselves. Sneaking in a rate increase right now is the lowest form of idiocy. No excuses, they knew exactly what they were doing. It is no mistake that they billed monthly to make it look like a smaller bill, while adding fees like typical government monkeys humping the football.

Anonymous said...

The idiots at KC City Hall went to monthly water billing for one reason only: they're trying to hide the fact our water rates are going through the ceiling. They're using piss-poor excuses like 'easier monthly budgeting' and 'finding water leaks faster' as a smokescreen. If they were truly concerned about customer budgeting and potential leaks, they would've gone to monthly billing decades ago. Let's face it: they're not suddenly concerned about their valued customers--they're suddenly concerned about their own asses and the hidden rate hikes they're ramming down our throats. Any ideas what we can do about this?
Bill
mybuddybilly4@att.net

Chris said...

I just recieved my November billing last week and was blown off of my feet! I thought that they went back to the 2-month billing again. With no changes in water usage/consumption, my 1-month bill was $16 less than my average 2-month billing (averaged over 12 month period)!! That shows nearly a 60% increase over my average!! I called Public Works to verify that they got an acurate reading from my home. They stated that there have been no issues other than a larger daily consumption. I argued that there has been NO changes to our daily routine to warrant the cost increase. Their reply?...
Hire a pumber to perform a "leak check" of my entire home. Are you kidding?!?! I have a finished basement, if there were leaks, I'm sure that after a month, I'd notice, not to mention that I remodeled one bathroom, replaced all toilet mechanics and installed water-saving shower heads throughout the house. Obviously now, I belive that the city is full of sewage!!
-Chris, KC Northland

Anonymous said...

My monthly water bill costs seem to have nearly doubled. It seems like I am getting one of those 2 month bills every month now... SMH

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