Family struggling to pay inexplicable bill|[10/13/06]

Published 12:00 am Friday, October 13, 2006

Water was part of the problem that brought Sandra Morgan to Vicksburg more than a year ago and water is a problem for her here today.

A difference is that when she and her family fled Hurricane Katrina, they had somewhere to go. In a billing dispute with Culkin Water District, she hasn’t found answers to basic questions.

Some of that is attributable to Culkin’s unique legal status. State regulators and the Warren County Board of Supervisors both disclaim any oversight for the utility, one of the largest in Mississippi.

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The water bill in dispute is for August and was $621, with late fees pushing the balance to $875.10.

Morgan, 45, contends her family’s quality of life hangs in the balance because of mistakes made by the district, perhaps as a leak in a nearby main was repaired.

&#8220My grandbabies aren’t going to have any water to bathe in,” Morgan said.

The district says Morgan’s belief is wrong and is sticking by its meter reading.

After fleeing Hammond, La., Morgan and several relatives were housed in the Vicksburg Convention Center after the Aug. 29 storm. Like many, they were assisted by a network of local charities in finding a home to settle here.

With the help of the local American Red Cross chapter, Morgan, along with an adult daughter, Cynthia Jones, and her son Jeremiah, 2, moved into a house on Hebron Drive, a gravel cul-de-sac behind a triangle of short, unpaved paths off Freetown Road which feature a mix of modest homes.

Seven months of rent and bills were paid using unemployment benefits and assistance from charities. Water bills were steady and averaged less than $100.

Things changed in August, when another daughter, Elizabeth Anthony, 28, moved, bringing with her an infant son and her husband, James Bismore.

With occupancy of the home rising from three people to six, it was predictable that water usage would rise.

What Morgan’s family did not expect was for it to increase by an average of 16,421 gallons per person.

Morgan’s household was billed for 182,830 gallons for August, up from 48,550 gallons in July – and enough to have filled a large residential swimming pool six times.

&#8220It’s ridiculous,” Morgan said, thumbing through bills she has saved throughout the year. &#8220We have no dishwasher or washing machine. We wash clothes in the bathtub.”

There was a leak in a main Culkin line downhill from Morgan’s home at 109 Hebron in late August, said Ken McClellan, Culkin manager, adding it &#8220had nothing to do with the customer at 109 Hebron Drive” because water lost there would not have been metered.

There was also a leak on the customer’s side of a meter serving a residence at 126 Heather Drive, just a few feet from the meter that measures Morgan’s usage. A notice from the district was hung on the door of the residence this week.

There was not, however, a known leak inside the meter at Morgan’s home.

Morgan and daughter Elizabeth Anthony have disagreed with McClellan’s faith in the system he has managed since 2000.

She has been offered a payment plan by the district, the usual option for those who have difficulty paying outstanding balances. Morgan and Anthony have landed jobs at a restaurant to help defray the cost of a bill they insist is inaccurate.

&#8220We work for tips, so this is tough,” Anthony said. &#8220There is no way we used that much water.”

Their landlord, Noel Martin, and her husband and family lived at 109 Hebron Drive for 24 years before moving to a home just behind it at 111 Hebron Drive just two years ago.

&#8220I just can’t see that,” Martin said of the bill, adding the water bill rarely reached $100 &#8220even when we had a lot of people living with us or let the water drip overnight in the winter.”

Tammy Christmas, director of the Water and Gas Department for the City of Vicksburg, is, by coincidence, a resident of a neighborhood served by the Culkin Water District. Culkin rates are higher. For example, she said, a bill in the city with Morgan’s recorded usage would be between $300.12 and $346.80.

Christmas also said average residential use inside the city limits is about 8,000 gallons per month, but household size would cause variations.

Cheryl Van Norman, director of the Fisher Ferry Water District, the next-largest in size in Warren County after Culkin, said Morgan’s bill there would be $831.82, but doubted any residence could use the enormous amount recorded on Morgan’s bill.

There really is no appeal for Morgan.

The Culkin Water District was authorized in the 1950s by the Mississippi Legislature and is one of Mississippi’s oldest water districts, serving areas east and northeast of Vicksburg, including River Region Medical Center and Ceres Research and Industrial Interplex.

Private water associations spread rapidly since, as neighborhood development in rural areas picked up. The systems replaced private or group wells. Water quality is measured for all districts, including Culkin, by state health officials.

As for regulatory authority, unlike with individually- or stockholder-owned companies that are overseen by the Mississippi Public Service Commission, Culkin, because it was created by the Legislature, regulates itself.

Culkin ratepayers, who have appealed to the commission, have often received letters back from the state, explaining the PSC doesn’t set Culkin rates or oversee its operations.

Usually, the letters refer ratepayers back to the Warren County Board of Supervisors, which, on paper, is the district’s sole regulatory body.

But supervisors say their authority is only to appoint five members of Culkin’s board of directors. They maintain a hands-off approach in matters dealing with rates. For example, Culkin’s most recent rate increase in February 2005 was announced without fanfare or review.

District 1 Supervisor David McDonald, in whose district many of the utility’s customers live, has backed up the arrangement, indicating he considers the utility truly private and that it sets its own rates at its leisure. That makes Culkin unique, because even utility companies such as Entergy and BellSouth must answer to the PSC.

McDonald said in January that calls about the Culkin Water District account for most of the calls he receives from constituents in his district, which lies almost entirely within Culkin’s service area. He tells callers, he said, the district is on its own.

&#8220A good many of the things I get called about I don’t have anything to do with,” McDonald said.