Just under a month ago, this newspaper published a story about Brookfield residents receiving unusually high water bills after having their old water meters changed out. At Monday night’s village board meeting, two more Brookfield seniors complained to village officials about addressing the problem.
In both instances, the residents were socked with bills at least $200 higher than normal. The explanation they received was the same-the increase reflected the reading on the inside water meter taken when the meter was switched out.
Officials have repeatedly told residents over the years to reconcile the inside meter (which records the actual water usage) with the outside meter (often faulty, but the device used to record usage by village meter readers), and have, before Monday, expressed little interest in softening the blow.
A new wrinkle, explained by Trustee Alan Dorobiala on Monday, was that there are many houses in south Brookfield where the inside water meters are located inside lower-level crawl spaces, which are difficult, if not impossible, to get to for some senior citizens.
Trustee Linda Stevanovich reiterated her support for finding a way to reconcile the water usage charges that would give residents the benefit of the doubt. By the end of the meeting, it seemed as if the board would be moving in that direction, with the board possibly figuring out some sort of rebate plan for those residents who have already paid the high charges.
At the very least, residents who may be paying for water used over a very long period of time should not be billed at 2007 rates. While the village has asked residents to check their meters in the past to make sure they were correct, it was really incumbent on the village to make sure those meters were functioning properly. If the problem was so widespread and that well known, it was the village’s responsibility to make it right.
By changing out the meters-a long overdue solution-the problem appears to be solved as we move forward. But don’t stick residents with the entire responsibility for making good on past mistakes.
Get out the vote
As we head into yet another election day, the Landmark encourages all voters to exercise their right to vote. We know that in several instances the elections are uncontested, which may keep people away from the polls. But there are important and contested high school board and village board races and referendums on the ballots in all three towns the Landmark covers.
We have endorsed candidates in the following races:
Riverside-Brookfield High School District 208: Larry Herbst, Susan Kleinmeyer, James Marciniak and MariAnne Leibrandt
Brookfield-LaGrange Park District 95: Thomas Powers, Lynn Waterloo and Christopher Blackburn
Brookfield village trustee: C.P. Hall II, Wilfred “Wil” Brennan and David LeClere
Brookfield village clerk: Brigid Weber