The Marion Board of Aldermen is working to develop a policy regarding adjustments to residents’ water bills after questions have come up in recent meetings about where to draw the line when forgiving the debt.

 

Marion allows for one adjustment per year for each water account, which can be used due to water leaks or other issues that cause a large fluctuation in a resident’s bill. Adjustments have previously been handled by the water department and only recently began coming to the board for approval.

 

In a meeting Tuesday, Alderman Stacy Blalock said one adjustment request came from a resident who knew about a leak for approximately five months before fixing the problem. The resident also carried a balance on the account prior to the leak beginning, which they want to be taken off by the adjustment as well.

 

Blalock said she supports helping residents and making adjustments when leaks happen, but repairs need to be timely and the town cannot forgive the previous debt.

 

“We can’t erase what was past due already,” she said.

 

Mayor Larry Gill said some residents may not be able to afford to immediately pay to have leaks repaired, but the town can take that into consideration when making its decision.

 

“If somebody does have a hardship where they can’t get it fixed, we’ve got to take that on a case-by-case basis,” he said. “That’s different.”

 

Town Attorney Dustin Markham said the board has wide latitude when it comes to making adjustments on residents’ water bills due, in part, to the lack of an established policy. Aldermen can decide to approve adjustments, deny them or meet somewhere in between.

 

That flexibility, however, is not always a good thing, Markham said, and aldermen should weigh each request carefully and consider the fairness and consistency of their decisions.

 

Aldermen Norman Coleman and Tammy Young agreed the town needs to have limits on adjustment requests and a clear understanding of what residents will need to provide to the town to document the leak and the repair.

 

“We need a policy, it sounds like to me,” Gill said.

 

Gill said a defined policy will help aldermen, the town’s staff and residents by clearly outlining the process of requesting a water adjustment. Many of the adjustments aldermen questioned shouldn’t even get to the board, he said, and a written policy will allow water department staff to take care of the issues ahead of time.

 

“We need to have a defined (policy). It should be second nature, what we’re doing, it should be,” he said. “It should never even come to the board unless it fits the policy.”

 

Many of the issues being raised are coming to light as the Board of Aldermen has become more involved in reviewing the water adjustments, Gill said, something he believes should have been implemented previously. It is likely questionable adjustments have been going unnoticed for some time, he said.

 

Now that aldermen are involved, Young said she believes the board needs to take action to address some of the concerns that have been raised.

 

“But I do think we need to get it under control because I think this is ridiculous,” she said.

 

Work to establish a policy is already underway with a review of ordinances and policies implemented by other municipalities in the region. The Board of Aldermen can then take that information and use it to craft their own policy to put in place for Marion.