Kelly Bullis complained about “multiple instances of gross overbilling” by the Town of Hennessey on commercial properties she owns during the Hennessey Board of Trustees and Utilities Authority Tuesday night meeting at Town Hall.

“The most recent case is at 1341 S. Main St.,” Bullis said. “The physical meter currently installed showed 17,002.81 on Saturday, while the bill reflected a previous reading of 17,914 which would have reflected the May 15 reading.”

Also, said Bullis, the meter ID listed on that bill is different from the one attached to the physical meter.

She said it was the fourth time she had been overcharged for “unexplained water usage” in 12 months.

Board is Asked to Investigate

“I am requesting the board to make a fair, factbased review and a correction of these persistent issues,” Bullis said. “You, the board of trustees, not the city office clerks. I encourage you to investigate the issues with the meters, meter reading discrepancies and procedures as well as policies and procedures to this ongoing issue that you may have been unaware of until now.”

Bullis said she would be available to provide documentation, or meet in person, if board members needed more information.

She made her complaints during a “citizen comments” agenda item and board members couldn’t take action on the matter during the meeting since it was not on their agenda for action.

You Must Have a Leak At another commercial property occupied by her husband at 1061 S. Main St. “that has minimal to no water use, but they were billed at four times the normal usage,” last month, Bullis said.

She asked at Town Hall and was told she must have a leak, or a running toilet.

“That was not the case,” she said, “but it's the automatic response by everyone in the office...I was also told that someone had probably plugged in a water hose and used the water, though there was no evidence of that.

Bullis said she was told “if they adjusted bills for everyone that has a huge bill, the city would be broke.”

She went to Town Hall June 30 to pick up a field test she’d requested on June 15 and was told she hadn’t requested it soon enough because the field test didn’t show the gross usage of water, Bullis said, adding that no one had told her there was a 'time window.”

“I was told that any time an abnormally high reading comes through that the staff are notified and will reach out to the property owner,” she said. “No one ever contacted me about any elevated usage at either property.”

Bullis said she has also been told, “Oh, it’s a radio read,” as an explanation and she wanted an explanation about what that meant.

Take Your Complaints to the Board

She was also told by the staff to take her complaints to the town board, she said.

Bullis gave the board a list of five items she wanted them to check on for her, including the meter ID issue on one account, and why hasn’t she been notified by the office about high usage at her properties. “Board, this is not an isolated billing mistake,” she told trustees. “It's part of an ongoing pattern of overcharging that is dismissed without evidence, investigating or recourse.”

She said she had changed nothing at the 409 Center last year after the two months of gross usage showing a meter reading of consistently 161 gallons per hour, running 24 hours a day for 30 days, through the meter.

Then, after they sent the meter in, the water usage went back to normal and she’d been told to call a plumber.