Phila's world class water department?
The one with $161,000,000.00 in uncollected bills?
-Lew
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/16017322.html
Posted on Wed, Feb. 27, 2008
CONTROLLER BLASTS WATER DEPT. BILLING
HIS REPORT CITES $161 MILLION OWED, QUESTIONABLE ABATEMENTS
MAYBE WE WERE only imagining the sound of champagne corks popping at
PGW headquarters yesterday, after the honor of "most screwed-up
municipally owned utility" officially passed from the gas company to
the Water Department . . . or at least the division that collects its
bills.
Yesterday, City Controller Alan Butkovitz released a report on a
review of delinquent water and sewer accounts, and it made us almost
forget about the past billing-system problems at PGW.
Based on its review of the Water Department's billing system in place
last year, the controller's office found $161 million in uncollected
bills, accounts allowed to linger for 15 years before water was shut
off, questionable abatements of huge water bills - one for $276,000 -
and federal and state offices that have let $1.5 million in water
bills pile up for years.
Oh, and just for good measure, one of the Water Revenue Bureau's
directors was fingered for possible fraud by under-reporting his own
personal water usage for the past nine years.
The bureau, which collects bills for the Water Department but is a
division of the city's Revenue Department, no longer uses the system
that the controller reviewed. In January, it started using a new
computer billing system - one that took many years and many millions
of wasted dollars to finally get up and running. While it's unclear
how many of the problems uncovered have migrated with the new system,
the report suggests a department with enough policy and procedural
problems that the machines used to spit out the billing are a small
part of the problem.
In fact, the report paints a picture of such a messed-up operation,
with so many millions at stake, that Mayor Nutter should put a blue
flashing light on his budget car and address this, now.
The Water Department is owned by the city. Unlike PGW, though, the
department is not regulated by the Public Utility Commission. In
fact, it's not regulated by anyone, other than the mayor and City
Council.
That means that when the Water Department wants a rate increase, it
hires someone to investigate its claim for one, and that person
reports back to the department. In the past few years, rates have
increased by 28 percent, and the department says it may ask for
another one soon.
Which, given the problems outlined yesterday, is an outrage to
contemplate without some serious changes in responsibility and
accountability.
The lack of oversight and regulation is a good place to start. The
gas company must adhere to clear and consistent standards for payment
arrangements, abatements and service delivery. Why shouldn't the
Water Department be held to the same standards? Regulation by the PUC
is not necessarily the only option to fix this: The city's Gas
Commission, which provides some oversight over PGW, might provide a
better model.
In fact, there are enough common issues in both utilities that it
would be worth considering the creation of a Gas and Water Commission
to provide oversight.
The controller's report, which follows one his office released six
months ago on the new billing system, delivers some shocking reading.
It does have limitations: The report doesn't identify how much of the
$161 million owed to the Water Department is in fees and penalties,
as opposed to charges for water or sewer alone. And it would be
useful to know exactly what problems from the old billing system they
fear may continue under the new.
But it's surely time to rethink the Water Revenue Bureau, before it
drowns and pulls us all down with it. *
On Feb 29, 2008, at 8:05 PM, Anthony West wrote:
The only zoning issue I know of around which there is no
controversy in the city of Philadelphia, is that the City of
Philadelphia's zoning code is hopelessly complex, illogical,
clumsy, unnavigable and broken. Seriously.
Every City government has strengths and weaknesses. Its Water
Dept., for instance, Philly is world-class. In contrast, its zoning
code reads like it was pounded out by a thousand monkeys on
keyboards. Nobody likes what we now have. Everybody is calling for
soup-to-nuts reform. Nutter's all for it, says he. The question is:
will he make it happen?
In the meantime ... nobody in Philadelphia really understands the
workings of our zoning system. The ordinary man on the street does
not. A bizarre man on the street like myself does not. Crafty
landlords like Al Krigman and Al Klein and Guy and Glenn do not.
Dueling real-estate experts like Melani and Liz do not. Multi-
million-dollar investors like Lussenhop and Penn and Cira and the
Sheik of Araby do not. It is confusing! And it is very bad for all
of us that it is so confusing.
While we're awaiting comprehensive reform, my starting position is
that Philadelphians should be patient with each other in zoning
controversies. In simpler terms: people who have no idea what
zoning law dictates in a complicated case are probably truthful;
people who are absolutely certain what zoning law dictates may be
suspected of fooling themselves.
It's a real problem. And it's a problem without villains.
-- Tony West
Frank wrote:
http://www.planphilly.com/node/2788
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