Okaloosa County BOCC — October 6, 2015 — Payments to Large Meter Customers — agenda request

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: October 6, 2015 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: Jeff Littrell SUBJECT: Payments to Large Meter Customers DEPARTMENT: Water and Sewer BCC DISTRICT: All STATEMENT OF ISSUE: Staff requests Board of County Commissioners (BCC) approval for billing adjustment payments to multiple large meter customers totaling $210,228.25. BACKGROUND: Over the past 2 years, Okaloosa County Water & Sewer (OCWS) staff has set up checks & balances and segregation of duties related to water meters 2" and larger. Staff have learned that simple errors made in the account setup of large water meter customers years ago can have a significant affect if they are not corrected over time. In order to put an end to the over payments that can result from incorrect meter sizes being entered during account set up, OCWS staff initiated and performed an internal audit of all water meters 2" and larger. With this internal audit, staff wanted to ensure that the field information on each meter is consistent with how each account was set up in the computer system and billed to the customer, with particular attention to the meter size and multiplier (whether the meter is billed in 1,000-gallon or 10,000- gallon increments). To perform this audit, OCWS staff made a thorough site visit to every water meter 2" and larger and located the size stamped on the meter by the manufacturer. Afterwards, separate staff reviewed the information in the computer system. At the completion of the internal audit, it was concluded that at 13 locations water meter sizes were inconsistent with the account information in our computer system. The majority of those accounts were established before 1992 (when our current/modern computer system was setup). Because of human error when those accounts were established, our billing software has been calculating the charges for a larger size meter than what is actually in place in the field. These errors have resulted in customer overpayments over time on the water and sewer readiness-to- serve charges, which are based on meter size. Readiness-to-serve charges are also known as a "base fee" or "fixed fee". As some of these meter locations have had multiple customers over time, the 13 meters locations have resulted in the proposed billing adjustment refunds to 17 total customers. Staff believes the right thing to do is to make each customer whole, and make a payment to them in the amount the customer overpaid plus a reasonable amount of interest. The Clerk of Court Finance staff have calculated the interest on the overpayments. The end result is payments totaling $210,228.25 to the entities on the attached document, titled "OCWS Large Meter Refunds." The customers are listed by service address, customer name, and dollar amount (overpayment + interest). For any customer names that have changed (i.e. deceased individuals or defunct businesses), OCWS staff will coordinate with the County Attorney to determine the appropriate entity on the refund check. OPTIONS: Approve or deny. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends the BCC approve billing adjustment payments to 17 large meter customers, totaling $210,228.25. RECOMMENDED BY: APPROVED BY: John Hofstad, County Administrator