st. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – After women’s bills reach nearly $50,000, your side 8 is digging into St. Peterburg’s water bill issues.
For almost a year, Ashley Wright has fought against water bills she said she had never received. Her account shows she owes $48,453.66.
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“I said, ‘How about $40,000?’ We’re watering everyone on the street,” Wright told the 8 on your side.
On September 5, a day after the original report on News Channel 8 aired, the city acknowledged the issue of the Wright bill and issued a $1,502 adjustment.
However, the documents show that the adjustment is based on “houseside leaks” calculations of the average consumption of lights over 125,000 gallons. Another city work order lists the average light consumption at just 1,300 gallons.
That inconsistency raises questions about whether the lights are still overcharged.
After failing to reply to requests for comment for weeks, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch addressed the issue during a public weekend event.
“With over 100,000 billing accounts, there are some anomalies and high water bills. I think most of that has been rectangular between the estimated application. This is being replaced by a new system,” Welch said.
Customer records also document consecutive meter replacements and staff errors on the same timeline.
Welch said a new multi-million dollar billing system called Tyler is being deployed to reduce costly mistakes.
“The majority of that will be the Tyler system, a multi-million dollar system that affects everything from permits to billing, and hasn’t been upgraded in decades,” Welch said.
But for Wright, the battle is not over. She is still facing a balance of tens of thousands of dollars, waiting for answers on how the city calculates credits.
The city told you 8 on your side and they praised Ashley with a cracked meter, but when it comes to use, they labeled it as a private leak. What they don’t explain is what formulas or standards are used to calculate adjustments and why the city used more than 125,00 gallons to adjust her bill. These questions were sent to the St. Pete Communications Team, and the 8 on your side was still waiting for a response.
