Kansas City Water Services Sneaks in Rate Increase

Kansas City Water Services Sneaks in Rate Increase

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.

Kansas City Water Department Workers Caught Napping On The Job

Kansas City Water Department Workers Caught Napping On The Job

A concerned citizen shot cell phone video of Kansas City Water Department employees sleeping on the job Tuesday. When confronted by a man holding a camera, the workers acted as if they had done nothing wrong. When asked if it was against city rules to sleep on the job, the Kansas City Water Department employee stated the he didn't know, but was just waiting on a concrete delivery. They had reportedly been sleeping for several hours after arriving one the job around 8:30 in the morning. Other local residents have also seen this crew sleeping several times before.

This incident highlights citizens' frustration with Kansas City government, and government in general. Scenarios like this most certainly play out day after day in this country. It is most disturbing in this day and age where many think the solutions to our problems lie in government intervention. With tight budgets everywhere, it seems the inefficiency of government operations could, and should be addressed.

Though you might likely take issue with the employees themselves, there is a bigger problem here. If these workers weren't sleeping, they likely would not have been doing anything productive either. The questions needs to be asked, if we are to believe that workers were waiting on a concrete delivery, why on earth does it take all morning to get a load of concrete delivered? In any event there are serious problems at the Kansas City Water Department.