The City of Bethel has shut off piped water to nearly 60 properties that do not have utility accounts with the city.
Bethel City Manager Lori Strickler said the properties had not been paying for water services, although some may have been using water for multiple years. Strickler said the city guesses a number of these properties are vacant. For those that are occupied, she said property owners or renters can create an account with the city to have services resumed.
Strickler said because of the lack of accounts and related contact information, the properties have not been notified by mail or by other means.
“We don't have any information on the account holders because they don't have an account with us,” Strickler said. “So it's assumed that if people are getting water and they're not paying for their water, that they know that they're not paying for the water and they don't have service. And they don't have a right to access that service.”
The shutoff only affects unregistered properties on the city’s piped water system, which serves residents in Bethel’s City Subdivision as well as Housing Subdivision.
Other than vacancy, Strickler said some properties may have gone unpaid unknowingly.
“We had a customer come in this afternoon that indicated they thought somebody else is paying the account,” Strickler said. “So you know, some honest mistakes there.”
The shutoff is part of a series of audits the city has undertaken since last fall, including commercial solid waste accounts, where Strickler said dumpster haul frequency and size weren’t being reflected in the rates some properties were paying.
The city says they next plan to audit taxes paid by local businesses.
Strickler said the audits are part of a city goal to understand its finances by combing through and making sure services are paid for.
She said the audits are a step toward a bigger goal for the city.
“Our goal as an organization and as a local government is to make sure that all the rate payers are paying into the system appropriately, so that eventually, when we do another rate study, we can identify some cost savings, both in operations, and by having all of the utility payers pay what they should be paying, which hopefully will result, in a way, [in] a reduction of rates for all the utility accounts,” Strickler said.
Residents on piped water who do not have utility accounts with the city can fill out an application online, or at the city offices. They are open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
