Water bills often a no-show

Mailed monthly statements failing to arrive proves to be common problem in community

Madison Village water bills have a tendency to get lost in the pipeline after they’re mailed out.

Village Administrator Dwayne Bailey shed light on that problem at the Jan. 27 Village Council meeting.

The topic of village water bills not reaching their destinations by U.S. mail was brought up in response to a question by Village Councilman Duane Frager. He said he was contacted by two residents about their water bills getting lost in the mail.

Frager added that he advised both people to contact Bailey at Village Hall.

Bailey said the residents likely spoke with village administrative office employees who are directly involved in mailing out the water bills. However, he confirmed that it’s very common for village water bills to not reach their destinations after being mailed out.

“On a given cycle, we can have 20 percent to 25 percent of our bills not show up at a customer’s house,” he said.

Bailey said the village’s mail is collected in Madison, sent to a Post Office location on Orange Avenue in Cleveland, and then comes back for local delivery. Although village officials have spoken with the U.S. Postal Service about what might be happening to the bills, no one has been able to identify the cause of the delivery problems or how they can be solved.

“We have exhausted every avenue of talking to our postmaster and people (at the Post Office) in Cleveland and have received no good answer for it,” Bailey said.

When The News-Herald asked U.S. Postal Service Strategic Communication Specialist Naddia Dhalai about Madison’s water-bill delivery problems on Jan. 31, she said that the Postal Service is committed to excellent customer service.

“If a customer is expecting a bill, they can contact the local postmaster or call 1-800-ASK-USPS,” she stated in an emailed response.

Bailey, meanwhile, suggested a different remedy. He said any Madison Village resident who doesn’t receive a water bill by the halfway point in a given month should contact Village Hall at 440-428-7526 for assistance, Bailey said.

“We do offer to do as an email, as well as a hard copy,” Bailey said. “We could email your bill, we can turn off your paper bill altogether, we can do both. In the case of landlords, we send them an email copy of their tenants’ bill.”

Village water and sewer customers who want to convert to paperless billing can set up an online account by visiting madisonvillage.org. Customers who have what’s known as a myMadisonVillage Account can go online to view, pay or print their water or sewer bills; as well as look at their history of water and sewer usage.

The village currently issues 1,512 water bills each month. Of that total, 87 customers are signed up for online billing, said village Fiscal Officer Kristie M. Crockett.