- Merlino says family punished for others' mob ties
- Camden County judge seriously hurt in bike accident
- Racism underlies rage at Obama presidency
- Dogs try out for role in "Oliver!"
- 5 area schools win U.S. Blue Ribbon honors
- New Pa. public-records law: lots of requests ... & lawsuits
- Ronnie Polaneczky: Pen to paper: Will Madoff make him rich?
- Drawn by Obama's proximity, activists spar on health care, abortion & other issues
- Ailing woman, 78, spared eviction after PHA's reasoning collapses
- ACORN shows 'pimp' and 'pro' the door here
- Obama in Philly, fundraising for Sen. Arlen Specter
- Blockbuster may shutter 960 stores
- SnapGlow.TV: Modern Gems Galore!
RELATED STORIES
Controller: Water bureau should get billing right before raising rates
City Controller Alan Butkovitz criticized the Water Revenue Bureau yesterday for raising rates after spending what he said was an extra $2.5 million on a new billing system.
The system, implemented in January 2008, cost $9.2 million instead of the $6.7 million initially estimated, Butkovitz said in an audit he released at a news conference.
Water rates jumped 6.4 percent yesterday.
Butkovitz called the billing system a failure and cited higher delinquencies and several occurrences of absurdly mistaken huge bills. He handed out copies of a residential water bill that went from $97 one month to $330,000 the next.
He said this represented the bureau's fifth unsuccessful attempt to develop an accurate system, costing the city nearly $50 million.
"Philadelphians continue to foot the bill for this ongoing technological mess," Butkovitz said, adding that "responsible water customers" should not have to pay because the bureau "can't get it right."
Delinquencies, unpaid accounts 90 days and older, were up last year to $124 million from $113 million in 2007.
Michelle Bethel, the bureau's deputy revenue commissioner, said that it was incorrect to refer to the extra $2.5 million as being over budget.
"The $9.2 million he is quoting actually takes you from the date [the system went live] through the end of the fiscal year, which ended [Tuesday]," Bethel said, adding that the system's cost was about $800,000 under-budget.
Butkovitz also said that unauthorized and former employees are able to adjust bills due to loose security and failure to terminate access to the system.
Bethel said that the bureau will begin ensuring that access is terminated when employees leave.
Bethel and Revenue Commissioner Keith Richardson blamed the jump in delinquencies on the economy, not the system.
Richardson said that kinks existed when the system was launched but that the problems have been cleared up.
"Nothing is perfect when you go live," Richardson said. "The purpose of the system was to produce a new water bill, and it's doing that." *
