by Dennis Dalman
Starting in early January, Ferguson Waterworks will begin installing new water meters in homes and businesses throughout Sartell. All installations are expected to be completed by the end of June 2022.
The Ferguson Co. is headquartered in Blaine.
Quite a few residents, mostly on the city’s east side and in newer homes, already have upgraded meters installed in the past, thus they will not be affected by the new-installation policy.
The city council approved the new-meters installation at a recent council meeting. There are almost 4,000 water meters in the city that will be replaced with the new ones at no cost to the residents. Most of the current meters are very old manual-read ones. The new ones will be read remotely via radio waves to a city utilities vehicle upon moving down roads or alleyways.
Residents will receive advance notice via a letter in the mail that will request them to set up appointment times for meter installations, which take about an hour and up to two hours. Installation times can be made for evenings and Saturdays.
The new meters will be paid for by the city – a total of $1.328 million through a five-year loan at 1.5 percent interest, with other payments coming from the annual city water fund. Each new meter will cost the city $275.
The good news is the meters are known to be extremely accurate in recording water usage. The bad news is some residents could be hit with a big one-time water bill. That is because for many years city policy requested all residents read their own meters and submit the reading results to the city. Based on those readings, city staff would average them out to bill for the water usage. It did happen, however, that some residents would not submit readings in a timely fashion or did not submit readings at all. In that case, the city had to estimate billing based on the few, if any, readings that had been submitted. It’s quite possible once the new meters are in place and working, accurate readings might indicate those residents could receive a one-time bigger bill to compensate for the underestimated bills they’d received in the past.
If residents do receive a one-time big water bill, the city is willing to offer long-term payment plans with pre-arranged payment amounts. If that should happen, call city hall at 320-253-2171 to make arrangements.
Some residents, on the other hand, might receive smaller bills based on the more-accurate readings than the ones on the old meters. Those residents could get a one-time credit payment from the city.
Residents are asked to be aware of the following information:
If they receive an installation letter but will be gone for a considerable amount of time, such as wintering over in some other state, they can schedule an appointment for the future by reaching Ferguson Waterworks by email (www.fergusonscheduling.com) or calling the company toll-free at 1-800-818-0389.
All installers will have with them proper identification, will be wearing Ferguson uniforms and will arrive in marked vehicles. All have had criminal-background checks. Each installer will abide by Covid safeguards – mask, distancing.
Residents should prepare by clearing out the space around the water meters so the installer has unencumbered access.
An adult 18 years old or older must be in the residence at the time of installation.
