City of Mission: Water rates now double?

Okay, something strange is going on in the City of Mission. I know a guy and his wife who lives to the south of downtown, south of Bus. 83, whose water bill has basically doubled overnight, from about $40 to about $80. It had averaged $40 for years, and then, bam, double the rate.

Some of his neighbors have it worse.

When he called city hall, he had a contact name and number, this was some of the help he got: Maybe somebody is stealing your water.

Say what? On his bill, read now with an electric meter, it shows that he’s blowing through approximately 600 gallons of water at night, but only on certain nights. He doesn’t even water his lawn.

Trying to be helpful, the city hall guy said, “Maybe you have a leak.”

Uh, a leak would be constant. It wouldn’t suddenly notice, hey, it’s 9 p.m., time to start taking a 600-gallon water leak; and then at midnight, time to shut down for the evening.

I thought these were supposed to be smart meters, not stupid meters.

Then I called a buddy of mine who lives in Mission, but his home value is in the mid-six figures.

“Has your water bill gone up lately?” No, he said. He’s still paying about $70 per month.

So, the question is, why is the neighborhood that houses seniors, most of whom live on fixed incomes, getting socked with a water bill that’s doubled over night, and the richer section of town, no rate increase, no use of water increase?

More importantly, why can’t anyone get any answers that make sense?

If the city is interested, the section of the city to which I’m referring is south of Bus. 83 and west of Bryan, west of Mayberry. Someone might look at the water bills from that section of town and figure out what’s wrong with Mission’s “smart meters,” for which taxpayers paid a pretty penny, only to have them spit out some water bills double what they were the month prior.

The people who live there, most of them, have no contacts with the city’s so-called leaders, no pull with city hall. They have no recourse but to sit back and take it as the city doubles their water bills, thinking perhaps no one will notice.

Normally, no one would notice a bill for less than a hundred bucks. But when you’re living on a fixed income that’s quickly dwindling, thanks to inflation, greed, you tend to notice those things. Yet, you have trouble getting answers to why your water bill just doubled over night.

“Maybe someone is stealing your water.” That’s the best line the city can come up with?

Note to Mission: If you fix this, or can explain it, let me know. I’ll write another story on the city of Mission’s attention to the needs of its senior citizens and those who live on the bottom end of the poverty scale.