|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Amid growing complaints about surprise water bills, three council members have proposed a measure to stop Houston Public Works from sending corrected higher charges to customers months after their original bills.
The proposed ordinance is designed to codify a policy already in place, but it also represents a quiet revolution in the balance of power at City Hall.
The water bill proposal is the first time since the passage of a city charter amendment earlier this month that council members have moved to put an item on the council agenda. Previously, that power belonged almost exclusively to the mayor.
Hours after council members sent out a press release about their idea last week, Mayor Sylvester Turner said he already had been working on reforms. The mayor’s office has not released further details about its package, which is set for consideration Dec. 6.
Fraught issue
Department of Public Works water billing has come under increasing scrutiny over the past year.
Aging water meters have translated into an explosion in the number of bills that are estimated rather than read. In some cases, customers are sent corrected, higher bills when the meters finally are read months later.
Customers also were hit with an average $11-per-month rate hike in April, and drought conditions led to hundreds of water leaks over the summer.
When corrected bills arrive in customers’ hands, they can be hundreds of dollars higher than expected. Outraged residents often call on City Council for help.
“We kind of see it in waves, at least with the people who are contacting my office. Sometimes it’s just call after call, it’s all about water charges,” District A Councilmember Amy Peck said. “Right now, we’re just getting bombarded.”
In response to complaints about long-delayed, surprise new bills, the city created an internal policy that is supposed to prevent its billing system from sending out higher charges after three months have passed.
Peck said that policy appears to be applied inconsistently, however. Under the proposed ordinance she is sponsoring with District G Councilmember Mary Nan Huffman and District D Councilmember Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, the city would be prevented from sending out higher bills more than three months after the fact.
The only exception would be for billing errors in the customer’s favor.
New powers at play
The trio’s proposal has yet to appear on the City Council agenda. Peck said she believes that is because it is the first time council members have tried to place an item on the agenda, in the wake of a charter amendment earlier this month that allows any three of them to do so.
Houston has one of the strongest “strong-mayor” forms of government in the United States. The city charter largely gave its executive the sole power to set the agenda.
Previously, council members had to ask the mayor to add an item to the agenda if they wanted it considered. The only exception was for three council members to call a special meeting, at which they would have the power to set an agenda. Other members could block a special meeting by failing to attend and denying it a quorum.
“Really, we were kind of at his mercy if we had priorities or things we wanted to move forward on,” Huffman said. “Typically, it would take having a meeting with the mayor or convincing him that this was something worthy that should go on the agenda, but it was nothing we could do on our own.”
With the new charter amendment, councilmembers finally have the power to act on their own.
For one longtime supporter of the amendment, the first use of the council’s new power is a perfect example of why it was necessary.
“The water bill issue is an issue that residents have been bringing to city council for years,” said Charles Blain, president of the Urban Reform Institute. “This is the point of this reform – so that we can finally see these issues that don’t get priority, get priority.”
For now, the council proposal and the council amendment process has been under review in the city Legal Department. Blain said he expects City Hall to create a formal amendment process in the future.
“One thing that isn’t defined in the charter amendment is the process for how this is going to work. So, council does have to iron out details,” he said.
Two of the council members floating the proposal, Huffman and Evans-Shabazz, are facing Dec. 9 runoff elections.
As council members passed through downtown Houston’s streets during the city’s Thanksgiving Parade last week, some constituents took advantage of the opportunity to voice their grievances.
“The City Council float was going by, and people were shouting ‘water bills, water bills,’” Huffman said. “They need us to do something about this, and we are responding to their concerns.”
Turner plans own fix
Huffman, Peck and Shabazz sent out a press release announcing their water billing proposal last Tuesday. Three hours later, Turner’s office announced he, too, had been working on a plan.
“Over the last few months, Houston Public Works and the City of Houston Legal Department have worked on comprehensive changes to our Municipal Code of Ordinances to address the issue of high water bills. This extensive array of regulatory and process improvements is designed to bring customer relief,” Turner said in a statement.
His office declined Monday to provide further details about the package, which tentatively is set for consideration at the Dec. 6 council meeting. Turner, who is term-limited, leaves office Dec. 31.
The council proposal’s sponsors said they had been unaware the administration was crafting a proposal. Evans-Shabazz said she is optimistic the flurry of legislative activity will produce results for beleaguered homeowners.
“We are all anxiously awaiting what the mayor is going to bring forward, and certainly doing so with an open mind. But the bottom line is, it’s about the constituents and the relief that is going to be brought about by whatever agenda item moves forward,” she said.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print.
