The Shadow
A member of Covington City Council Tuesday night called for an audit of the city’s water and sewer accounts in order to ensure that all customers are paying equally.
Buddy Brown said different rules for certain water and sewer customers allow some to pay less money for equal water, sewer and refuse collection.
“I think there’s an inequity that’s been going on for a long time,” Brown said.
He said that multiple-family dwellings in the city, which are billed quarterly via water meter readings, pay less per month than single-family homes that are billed a flat rate for unmetered water.
Covington City Manager John Doane said it would not be possible for city employees to trace every account in the city, citing a lack of time and resources to do so, however, he said he would direct city employees to determine how many customers in multi-family houses exist and whether the property owner pays per unit or for the entire dwelling.
Brown suggested that every customer in the city pay the flat rate for water, sewer and refuse collection. He cited examples that he has researched where multi-family housing units pay substantially less.
“I think it’s time we do away with the water meters,” Brown said. “I think we need a more fair and rational system than we have regarding multiple-dwelling accounts,” Doane said.
While council took no action on the matter, Doane said he will tender the information to council as soon as possible.
