Washington Evening Journal
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Williamsburg sets sewer bill forgiveness policy
By Winona Whitaker, Hometown Current
Nov. 30, 2023 11:57 am
WILLIAMSBURG — An increase in requests for sewer charge forgiveness prompted the Williamsburg City Council to create a policy governing the practice.
The city used to receive one request a year for forgiveness, estimated City Manager Aaron Sandersfeld. Now it receives about one a month.
The water and sewer committee came up with some guidelines, said Williamsburg Mayor Adam Grier during last week’s city council meeting. Those guidelines were the basis for a resolution adopting a utility bill forgiveness policy “to clarify what we’ve been doing in the past and tightening up a little bit,” said Grier.
The resolution gives the city council the discretion to consider granting a billing adjustment for extraordinary and non-recurrent plumbing problems. Forgiveness may only be granted once in a three-year period for an account holder and only when city hall staff finds that five conditions exist:
1. That the request for forgiveness has been made by the account holder no later than 90 days from the date of the utility bill containing the leak or extraordinary use.
2. That the consumption of the leak is greater than the average consumption during the previous three months.
3. That the applicant has provided proof of the repair as required by the leak forgiveness application, and the meter shows no sign of movement after the repair. An example of proof of repair would be an outdoor faucet lock system to prevent someone from accidentally turning on an outside faucet.
4. That the account has not been granted a leak forgiveness in the past 36 months.
5. That the leak forgiveness applies to no more than two consecutive service periods.
“The water charge wouldn’t be touched,” said Councilman Tyler Marshall, and only 2/3 of the sewer bill will be forgiven.
Sandersfeld said the policy is too lenient and that forgiveness should be granted only if something breaks, not because someone had a memory lapse and left the hose running.
“This wording gives us some discretion,” Marshall said.
“This does tighten up what we do now,” Grier said.
The city used to take a zero-tolerance approach, said Sandersfeld. It didn’t forgive anything.
But the council has started forgiving sewer charges in cases in which the water isn’t going into the sewer, said Marshall. That’s why the council usually didn’t forgive excessive usage caused by a leaking toilet and other plumbing problems. The city has to treat that water.
“It’s hard to draft a policy that fits everything,” said Marshall. Under Resolution 110-23, the council still has the discretion to grant forgiveness in the case of faulty plumbing. “We’re still going to have those discussions,” he said.
Grier thinks the city will see fewer requests under the new resolution because it requires proof of remedy and forgives only 2/3 of the sewer bill.
Because the city had no policy for sewer forgiveness in place, the new resolution is “definitely a step in the right direction,” said Councilman Jeff Steinkamp.
City Clerk Niki Osweiler said the city forgives several thousand dollars a year, but Marshall said that’s not hurting the city because it didn’t budget for the increased usage, and the city still receives the money for water usage. It only forgives the sewer portion of the bill.
The new policy was based on another community’s policy, said Grier. He read the policies of several communities before offering this one to the City of Williamsburg.
The resolution passed unanimously, but Councilwoman Anne Zalenski and Councilman Dale Walter seemed reluctant. Someone who lets the hose run for two weeks should have known, said Walter.
The council will still have the discretion to decline requests for forgiveness, Grier said.