DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The Daytona Beach utilities department will be audited after faulty meters across the city have led to high water bills for homeowners.
This is an issue first exposed by 9 Investigates back in January. That reporting has helped residents get refunds and bill adjustments.
City Commissioners have agreed to have the city auditor look into the utilities department because residents are still reporting high bills.
City staff is telling us those high bills are accurate.
This is after we’ve looked at about a dozen bills that have doubled or tripled, and the city said that’s happening because the old meters weren’t reading correctly and the new ones are.
“2200 gallons of water used a day, 3,000 gallons, 3700 gallons, over 4,000 gallons of water a day,” said Michele Townsend.
Those numbers are the daily usage reports on Michele Townsend’s Daytona Beach water bill, which increased by $ 500.
She owns a rental property with two tenants, and since she’s out of state, she had a plumber stop by the home. He found no issues. But the city told Townsend she still owed the money.
“We did not use all this water,” said Townsend.
Townsend’s story mirrors that of multiple residents across Daytona Beach who came to us for help back in January. Our reporting revealed that bills were being estimated while 15,000 water meters were being replaced.
Now, a spokesperson tells us that the work is almost complete and that people’s bills are more accurate as a result.
Additionally, it is the city’s policy not to charge water customers retroactively for water previously used but not billed due to estimated bills or faulty meters.
“Their stance is almost verbatim, no matter who you talk to. These meters are not defective; they’re not faulty. You need to look at what you have done, and you need to tell us what your reason is that you used all this water,” said Townsend.
We asked the city if people are supposed to just pay the high bills even though the department will now be investigated by the city auditor, and were told that if someone thinks their bill isn’t accurate, they can contact the water department to dispute it.
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