Sean C. Morgan
The bill marked “draft” that City of Sweet Home water users received was part of a survey by the city to find out whether users would like their bills sent that way at some point in the future.
Water and sewer bills are sent out each month on postcards. The survey asks whether users would like a letter-sized page including their use history and an envelope for mailing the payment.
The sample bill, in some cases, was sent on top of the survey in the envelope and led to some confusion without context of the survey beneath it.
One of the survey questions says, “Enclosed is a draft copy of a one-page billing statement. Would you prefer this type of statement?”
“There’s been some questions about the post-card type billing and that it’d be nice if you’d put history somewhere, those types of things,” Public Works Director Mike Adams said. That prompted him to look into a new billing style.
Public Works intends to run surveys once or twice a year, Adams said. A City Council goal is to periodically survey water and sewer customers in order to help maintain a customer-oriented organization.
The survey is intended to find out if people are happy with the service they are getting, Adams said. The city included a survey last summer in its annual utility report.
At the time, some 69 percent of respondents said the city’s responsiveness to their water needs was good or excellent. Another 16 percent said it was average and 15 percent were poor.
Sixty-eight percent said rated the city’s performance in maintaining water service as good to excellent, with 15 percent saying average and 17 percent saying poor .
Billing accuracy was rated 66 percent at good to excellent, 21 percent average and 13 percent poor.
Overall satisfaction was rated 60 percent good to excellent, 21 percent average and 19 percent poor.
The survey had 59 responses.
The sample bill did not cost the city extra money, Adams said. The billing company seeking the city’s business prepared the sample bill and covered additional costs.
“Do you like this?” Adams asked. “Is there a legitimate interest? If there is, I’ll invest time to research it more.”
Adams does not believe the billing alternative will cost more, but he has not yet taken the time to research the costs. He won’t guarantee that it won’t cost more.
If the city did bill that way, it could send billing information to a billing company, which would then prepare the bills for customers, or the city could continue to do a similar billing system in house.
Right now, the city bears the costs of printing, labeling and mailing the post cards.
For more information about the survey, persons may call 367-5128 or visit City Hall, 1140 12th Ave.