Slidell Council increases meter tampering fines, explains new water bills

Slidell is in the process of installing 11,000 new water meters in the city, and in an effort to protect them, the City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday that increases the fines for people who tamper with the meters.

The new meters are much more efficient, according to Mayor Ben Morris. They also all have radio transmitters on them that make it easier for the city to read meters and issue bills. Now it takes only one person in a truck to go down a street and record meter readings that are transmitted to the truck.

The new fine schedule includes the possibility of someone breaking the radio transmitter. Anyone tampering with a meter’s transmitter will be fined $125. Breaking a valve on the meter will increase from a $50 fine to $75, and breaking a meter lock will result in an increased fine from $25 to $75.

Finally, evidence of tampering with the meter’s lens will result in a fine of $125, which was increased from $75.

The new meters also have a longer billing cycle of six weeks, which means residents are getting water bills that are a bit higher than the normal four-week billing cycle. The increase has caused some tempers to also increase, according to Councilman Bill Borchert.

“I’ve gotten quite a few calls on it,” Borchert said. “People said their bills went up from $40 to $80.”

John Autry, data processing manager for Slidell, told the council there have been a “few challenges” with the new billing system, especially the longer billing cycle.

“We are ironing out the problems,” Autry said. “Also because of Gustav, September has been a bad month, but October will be a lot better.”

He also cited problems with leakage on some of the new meters. However, the contractor installing the meters found the problem to be the wrong size washer had been installed. Autry said the contractor is going back and installing the correct washer on the leaking meters.

Borchert commented that some people might be getting higher bills because the new meters are so efficient.

Morris said the administration put in the new meters because the city was losing a lot of water with the old system, which cut into city revenues.

He said contractors are 50 percent finished installing the new meters, and the entire city should be finished within 60 to 90 days.