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Message from the City Manager 

Utility Bill Alert

Cycle 2 customers’ utility invoices contained 33 or more days of reading uniformly for several street locations.   The City’s meter reading standard is 30 to 32 days.  Customers, as a result of the meter reading-days, received invoices that were higher than their normal for this month of the year.  The City recently hired several new meter readers, and the new meter readers were not up to the challenges of crisscrossing the route territory with the efficiency of experience meter readers.

They will get there soon!

Each customer has the options of 1) paying the current invoice or 2) deferring the excess days on the invoice to the next Cycle 2 billing cycle.  If the first option is selected, the next invoice will be in the standard range with the inclusion of the excess days.   Please contact Customer Service to exercise option 2.   We apologize for the inconvenience.

Below are the affected locations:

  • Martin Luther King, Key Street, Hardin Street, 11th Street, Stewart Street, Dade Street, Gilchrist Street, Robert Street, Sumter Street, Cleveland Street, Osceola Street, Robert Street, and 3rd
  • South Adams, Bay Street, Sikes Street, Greenwood Drive, Warren Street, Collins Street, High Bridge Road, High Street, Gray Ave, Strong Road, Betsey Ln., Koonce Ln., Joe Adams Road, Ray Road, Harper Ln., Reed Street, Cummings Lane, Gray Ave., Highbridge Plantation Road, and Joe Knight Street.
  • Jim Williams Road, Hogan Ln., Wright Blvd., Pat Thomas Pkwy, Cox Road, Corporate Ct., Sarges Ln., Walsh Road, and Shiloh Church Road.
  • Caldwell Street, Frierson Street, Flagler Street, Hamilton Street, Shelfer Street, Wille Ruth Williams Ln., Virginia Street, Osceola Street, Atlanta Street, Industrial Drive, and Arlington Cir., Kennedy Ln.
  • West Jefferson Street, Macon Street, Lillian Spring Road, West Washington Street, Sharon Street, and King Street.
  • Hwy 90, Home Trailer Park, Pavilion Drive, Marty Street, Franklin Street, Havana Hwy, Henry Grady Road, Bell Farm Road, Alford Street, Pt. Milligan Road, Hudson Blvd., Milliken Drive, Hillside Drive, Dogtown Road, Post Plant Road, Del Rio Drive, Camellia Drive, Alba Ave., Jetty Ave., Sargent Street, Shadow Street, North Shadow Street, Sircy Ct., Henry Grady Road, Airport Drive, Chisholm Trl., Cow Girl Way, and Blue Star Hwy.
  • Woodberry Road, Gray Road, Pepper Drive, Fletcher Drive, 14th Street, Solomon Dairy Road, Attapulgus Highway, Sawano Drive, Carrol Hopkins Ln., Green Road, Mitchell Drive, Woodward Road, Old Philadelphia Church, Houston Road, Sunshine Way, Whispering Pines Ln., and Bostic Road, Casey Ln.
  • Circle Drive, Johnny Byrd Road, Byrd Road, Ripp Road, Simpson road, Harrison Wills Road, David Armstead Road, Geneva Circle, Witt Road, Rentz Road, Water Pump for well Rentz Mobile Park, McLendon Ln., Phoebe Road, Beulah Street, Hogue Landing Ln., Gadsen Arms, and Stewart Street.
  • Selman Road, Bethel Road, Holly Circle, Carlisle Drive, Ranch Road, Jenkins Pl., Bernice Collins Ln., Pontiac Drive, Earl Ln., Holly Circle, White Lilly Road, Lasalle Path, New Bethel Road, King Street Airport, Joyland Trailer Park, Key Street, Smith Street, Key Farm, Bay Street, Witt Street, Freddie Martin/Holly Cir., and Redding Ln.
  • Green Meadow Court, Frances Kelly Ln., Greenwood Cir., Greenwood Terrace, Greenwood Apt. and Greenwood Court,/Idy
  • Parkview Garden Apt., Parkview Gardens, and Barack Obama Blvd.
  • Triple Oaks, and Crossroad School.
  • Sparkleberry Blvd., Foxfire Court, and Oak Grove Ln.

Hurricane Michael Surcharge
The City paid $1,819,660 of $3.2M owed to mutual aid cities to date. One hundred and fifty linemen from Alabama, Georgia, and Florida came to our rescue. Many of our customers/citizens are now seeing a Hurricane Michael Surcharge on the February utility bills. The City applied to FEMA for the $3.2M owed the mutual aid cities. The City has not received any FEMA funding and the federal government is not likely to reimburse the City for the $3.2M it will spend by the end of the current fiscal year any time soon. Based on recent disaster experiences of other cities and counties, the earliest FEMA reimbursement dollars will be available to the City is 3 years from the October 10, 2018 disaster declaration.

After December 2018 legal notices, the City Commission passed a sunset Hurricane Michael Surcharge to pay the mutual aid cities, who help to our utility’s crews restore power faster than other utilities in the county. Notice of the planned increase were sent to our 4700 customers on January 24 and February 12, 2019. The average residential surcharge is $9.00. This surcharge will sunset in 4 years. The FEMA funds, when received, will be placed in Emergency Funds to help with future disasters and emergencies.
Because of the Hurricane Michael Surcharge, the City will be better able to handle any future hurricane or emergency.

Thank you for being a valued customer!