Magnolia officials said the town isn’t getting paid for about half the water it supplies to customers.
Mayor Anthony Witherspoon said Monday that a recent analysis of water revenue revealed that while the city pumped out more than 200 million gallons of water last year, it only received payment for just over 100 million gallons.
Witherspoon and water department officials have been looking at the matter, but officials haven’t ruled out bringing in an expert.
“We’re doing some stuff in-house. We’ve found some dead meters and we’re in the process of replacing those with meters in stock, but we need to do more analysis,” he said.
The mayor has made water collections a top priority and is recommending hiring additional clerks for water and court collections.
While collections have been increasing, officials have uncovered disparities between how much water is pumped out and how much of that is paid for.
Much of the problem involves malfunctioning meters, Witherspoon said.
“We’re now looking at old meters that need calibrating, re-calibrating or replacement. We’re in the process of determining how many there are,” he said.
There are more than 1,000 meters and about 915 active accounts across the city. Alderman Joe Cornacchione said he knows of at least 40 meters that don’t work.
In the meantime, water department employees are replacing dead meters.
As a remedy, Witherspoon said the city doesn’t want to raise water rates. He said replaceing the meters would eventually bring in more money.
“I’d rather see our water revenue increase based on an accurate reading, instead of automatically increasing water fees,” Witherspoon said. “If the meters we have now only have a 50 to 60 percent accuracy rate, once we have a more accurate reading, it’ll pay for itself.”
Besides faulty meters, water leaks could also be an issue for the city.
A recently replaced meter on a water line near First Baptist Church revealed that some 18,000 gallons seeped out in the space of a week. Water damage from the leak has left a large hole in the parking lot of the church and led to mildew damage at a neighboring property. It led to disagreement between the city board, a church representative and a homeowner at February’s board meeting.
“That’s why we are looking into this. We’re putting forth the effort to find out where the problems are. We know the clerks are doing well with collection efforts, so that’s not the problem,” Witherspoon said.
Just how much money has been lost in wasting water is almost impossible to say, the mayor said.
“We’re dealing with residential, commercial and industrial properties. They all require varying amounts of water. How much money have we lost? A lot, I know that,” he said.
In a related matter, the board voted unanimously to raise the city’s water/sewer reconnect fee from $21 to $50 before Witherspoon vetoed the measure this morning.
City Clerk Servia Fortenberry had said the increase would have put Magnolia “more in line with other Pike County municipalities,” saying “no one pays less than $50 in Pike County, including Osyka.”
Witherspoon, however, said that figure is incorrect and officials would revisit the increase.
“This should serve as a deterrent,” Witherspoon said, regarding customers who aren’t overly concerned with the past fee.
