Phil Reisman: More Yonkers water (meter) torture

It is an epic tale of bureaucratic ineptitude and public frustration. Call it "The Great Yonkers Water Meter Problem."

For nearly 20 years, water customers in Yonkers have been subjected to a slapdash billing system that often resulted in outrageous charges running into thousands of dollars. Horror stories abounded, many of them from shocked senior citizens on fixed incomes who feared being wiped out financially.

One guy sent me a copy of his bill for $19,845.76. Luckily for him, it was reduced to $236.

After writing about this mess for quite some time, I thought I had heard it all until Anton Nikaj came along. In December, he told me that his 80-year-old mother had a tax lien put on her house for an unpaid 2013 water bill that was more than $10,000.

He's contemplating taking the city to court.

When people complain about the billing, they frequently use choice words like, "ripoff," "crime," "scam," "dumb," and "stupid." And those are from the polite customers.

Getting straight answers from the Water Department is next to impossible, which further fuels suspicions that the system isn't merely haphazard, but rigged.

Mayor Mike Spano, who took office in 2011, pledged to solve the problem by initiating a $12 million project to replace all of the city's old and outdated water meters with state-of-the-art meters. The city sent out letters in early 2014 instructing customers to schedule an appointment to have the new equipment installed.

That should've been the end of the story. But nothing ever comes easy in Yonkers.

The water meter saga continues.

Here's the latest wrinkle: It appears that not everyone has cooperated with the city.

Of the 30,000 water meters, 21,600 have been replaced. However, 7,000 homeowners and businesses have dragged their feet — and if they don't act soon they will face penalties.

"We have been working to rectify the city's long-term billing issues but to do so we need to replace all the remaining water meters," Spano said in a statement earlier this week. "I'm urging those residents who have been non-responsive to schedule an appointment to replace their old meter so we can ensure accurate and fair readings."

An April 1 deadline has been set to schedule the meter installation. After that, customers may be fined up to $250 a day, according to the mayor's spokeswoman, Christina Gilmartin.

Gilmartin said recalcitrant customers included owners of vacant or rented property. "Some management companies might be stalling because they have been underestimated over the years," she said.

But there are also people who are just plain suspicious because of all the hours they wasted haggling with the Water Department. One customer, Mike Garcia, who contacted me in an email, wondered if the city's replacement project was even legal.

"What can they do if you just ignore them?" he asked.

That was a month ago. Since then, Garcia has had his meter replaced.

Like so many other problems in Yonkers, the water meter fiasco began with budget cuts. Once upon a time, the city had four employees whose responsibilities included reading the water meters in homes and businesses. To cut costs, the city in 1995 shuffled some jobs around and virtually eliminated the on-site meter reading, relying instead on a system of estimating water usage.

To no one's great surprise, that idea quickly proved inadequate. So the city resorted to Plan B. A deal was made with Con Edison to have its electric meter readers scan the municipal water meters at a price of $1 per reading.

Customers complained about that, too.

One of them was Terry Anderson, the renowned Mideast bureau chief for The Associated Press, who was held hostage by radical Muslims for seven years in Lebanon. After his release, he moved to Yonkers and for a time became active in city politics.

It turned out his water meter hadn't been read in five years. One day in 1996 he got a bill for $443.94, which was about four times the usual amount. This irritated him to say the least.

"It is my bill, so I will pay it," Anderson said. "But I will insist that the city read the meters. Estimates don't seem all that accurate, do they?"

The Con Ed deal fell apart under the weight of inefficiency — and the vexing problem persisted into the new century.

The new water meters do not require meter readers. Data is collected through radio transmissions.

So far, the reviews are positive, according to Gilmartin.

"Actually," she said, "residents have been very grateful to have accurate readings now, alleviating some cases where they might have been overestimated over the years."

David Wuchinich, a homeowner whose meter was installed in August, had a brief comment after getting his first bill.

"The tallies are accurate," he said.

To schedule a meter installation, homeowners and businesses can contact Keystone Utility Systems at office@keystoneutilities.com or call 877-587-2279.

Reach Phil Reisman at preisman@lohud.com. Twitter: @philreisman