The town of Argyle approved an agreement with Raftelis Financial Consultants Inc. on Jan. 21 to review the wastewater billing data.
The big picture
The analysis will not exceed a cost of $26,000 with the purpose of ensuring customers are being billed at the correct rates in terms of location and customer type.
There is an estimated discrepancy of between $50,000 and $150,000 for how much is owed to the town, said Argyle financial director Marissa Barrett.
Once the study is complete, customers must write a request to the town receive a refund for any miscalculated billings since 2018, which is how far back the study will go, town officials said.
Any other funds remitted to the town will be distributed into the utility find, according to Argyle's website.
Sorting out details
The town of Argyle provides wastewater services for residents within the Certificate of Convenience and Necessity service area, which is located both within and outside of the municipal town limits, according to city documents.
The town partners with Argyle Water Supply Corporation who provides data from their water meters and then bills customers for both water and wastewater. Because the town of Argyle and the Argyle Water Supply Corporation have different ways of calculating fees, this could have potentially led to discrepancies for amount of wastewater collected versus the amount billed by the Argyle Water Supply Corporation.
The town of Argyle calculated different fees between customers based on location and whether the resident is commercial or residential. The analysis by Raftelis will study these differences and fix any mistakes that may have been made by the Argyle Water Supply Corporation.
What’s next?
The plan is for Raftelis to start reviewing the Harvest area for any discrepancies and confirming refund amounts per account holder before proceeding with a systemwide analysis.
The overall process is expected to take four weeks to complete, said Barrett.