http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/07/14/hot.summer.ap/index.html

Woman gets $74,000 water bill

Thursday, July 14, 2005; Posted: 8:26 a.m. EDT (12:26 GMT)

MASCOUTAH, Illinois (AP) -- It has been a hot, dry summer in this St. Louis suburb, but Rose Mary Cook knew there was no way she could have used $74,000 worth of water.

The city's utility department claimed Cook used 10 million gallons of water last month, charging her $29,787 for water, $43,581 for sewer, plus $893 for municipal tax.

"Luckily, when I opened the bill, I was sitting down," Cook said. "I could have filled every pool in southern Illinois and still not used that much water."

Cook presented the bill to a public works employee at City Hall. Officials quickly determined the whopping fee was the result of a broken meter and issued a corrected bill for $32.66 -- waiving Cook's monthly water and sewer charges for her troubles.

"My daughter asked me if I was hoarding water during the drought," Cook said. "I told her I would, but I don't know where I would find 10 million gallon jugs."

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

At least she had a sense of humor about it.

Plus, the city fixed it right away.

Unlike the poor IL guy who was arrested after he sold his car and didn't show up for the emissions test on the car he no longer owned.

He made a honest mistake - forgot to cancel the plates - but the State is going after him with everything they have. He has a court date this week I belive.

Av.

Must have been the Y2K bug  

Well, I never really thought that Mascoutah was a burb of St. Louis, but what ever.  

I got a water bill for $750 one time, I opened the bill out at the mailbox and was like WTF.  I got on the ground and started to open the meter cover, the wife was like what are you doing digging in the yard, they didn't read the meter or something, the numbers didn't match my bill.  I called them and didn't pay a water bill for another two months.

Goose

Broken meter aside....

What kind of a retard actually types out the bill for 10,000,000 gallons of water at a residence?

What kind of oversight do they have there for billing accuracy?

I have a millwork company I just started doing work for and they are purchasing a smaller mill next to their mill to expand.

They already locked the deal in but they got a letter from the water dept claiming the previous owner(who died a few years ago) fought off a large water bill for over 20 years.

She had me look at the bill.

It was $125,000!!!!!

25 years at roughly $550 a month.

Luckly the company who sold them the mill is responsible.

The city should have made her pay first before disputing the bill.

Then give her the run-around for a year

IL has become a shining beacon of Liberalism in the heartland.  I was not surprised when Rod Blagoyavichee3kdhdksls was elected Gov.  

It just fits.

It was Bush's fault...........

Quoted: Quoted: Broken meter aside.... What kind of a retard actually types out the bill for 10,000,000 gallons of water at a residence? What kind of oversight do they have there for billing accuracy? Types out the bill? They havent used retards in years. Its all computerized now. Computers dont know one from another

30 years ago when I worked for the local power company, ANY bill that was more than a certain percentage over the usual bills got kicked out for some sort of human interaction, like a meter test, or whatever, as we anticipated the usual high bill complaint.  

I can't believe this bill didn't recieve similar attention, but obviously, it didn't.  

She should have used the neighbors faucet

Quoted: Broken meter aside.... What kind of a retard actually types out the bill for 10,000,000 gallons of water at a residence? What kind of oversight do they have there for billing accuracy?

If the people preparing the bills are like those I've worked with in the past (in the same field), then they don't think about the numbers they get.  They just plug the numbers in and don't give it a second thought.

They don't take averages into account, or the previous month's usage.  They just plug numbers and print the bill.  Critical thinking isn't possible for these mindless drones.

I'm just glad I don't deal with municipal water any longer.

Quoted: Well, I never really thought that Mascoutah was a burb of St. Louis, but what ever.

Just liek Midamerica Airport is in St. Louis. lol....

I used to live in Mascoutah. Not too bad of a town, but it's got some real trailer-style residents.

Quoted: Quoted: Well, I never really thought that Mascoutah was a burb of St. Louis, but what ever.   Just liek Midamerica Airport is in St. Louis. lol.... I used to live in Mascoutah. Not too bad of a town, but it's got some real trailer-style residents.

Care to elaborate on "trailer - style residents"?

Ya know... it's the 21st century.

Trailer trash is no longer restricted to trailers.


There's alot of nice parts, but there's also alot of ghetto type run down looking places.

Hee hee hee ... "Ten Million Gallon Jugs!"

"Trailer Style" -- aka you can take the trash out of the trailer but you can't take the trailer out of the trash?

Quoted: Quoted: Broken meter aside.... What kind of a retard actually types out the bill for 10,000,000 gallons of water at a residence? What kind of oversight do they have there for billing accuracy? Types out the bill? They havent used retards in years. Its all computerized now. Computers dont know one from another

Garbage in, garbage out.


They should program a reality check in the computer that woudl flag something like that