The cost of new water service for residential customers in the City of Forney is set to drop after adoption of a new fee schedule during the Forney City Council meeting July 16.
Connection deposits for new accounts will drop from $150 to $75 for residential customers and go down from $300 to $275 for businesses, but a new $25 non-refundable connection fee will be established.
"Over the last couple of months the utility billing staff has done an overview of our current policies and procedures to see if anything needed an update and to check with other cities to see if we are in line with what they are doing," said Forney Director of Administrative Services Leigh Corson. "Our residential deposit is quite a bit higher than in other cities."
Corson explained the deposit was raised to combat a problem during the recent economic downturn. "This was done several years ago, with foreclosures and people walking away from their houses and walking away from their utility bills," she said. "We just aren't seeing that kind of issue any more, so we feel comfortable recommending that the deposit be lowered."
Council member Mary Penn questioned the new $25 fee, where previously there was none. Croson replied, "This is something that a lot of utility companies do, essentially to cover the administrative costs of setting up a new account as well as the labor of meter readers going out to turn on the water. That is currently absorbed as part of the routine water rates."
After the meeting, Corson told inForney.com that the new fee was simply a way of recouping costs. "We had about 200 new water customers last year, so this isn't going to be much," she said. "We have been working on our budget and that hasn't even part of the discussion."
Current customers who paid the $150 deposit will see a $75 credit on an upcoming water bill. Another change will allow a refund of the connection deposit for customers with a 36-month record of on-time payments.