A lot of time, effort and care goes into preparing monthly statements which are accurate, easy to understand, and communicate required information to our customers. Currently, the Customer Service department prepares over 36,000 monthly statements for a variety of rate payers; including residential, commercial, agricultural and recycled water customers. The District divides all customers into 4 separate billing "cycles," which are based primarily on the location of the property that is served. Click here to determine what cycle you are billed with and view your billing schedule.

Bills are normally dated for either the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Monday of the month (Exception: If a month has 5 Mondays, then the second Monday is skipped), which corresponds directly to the cycle that is being billed. The Due Date of the bill is always 21 days from the date noted on the bill, which is also always a Monday. Unfortunately, at this time, the District is not able to change customers from one cycle to another in order to adjust the due date of the bill.

The following describes the steps that are taken to produce your bill:

Step 1: Meter Reading

The first step to preparing your bill involves reading the water meter at each property within a cycle. Currently, most meters within the District are read using radio read transmitting equipment. The District began the conversion to Automate Meter Reading (AMR) technology in 2002, and the project was completed in August 2006. AMR allows the District to read a large number of meters in a short period of time, which maximizes the efficiency of current staffing levels. Also, the potential of misreading a meter is eliminated with AMR as human error is not a factor. Meters are still equipped with a highly accurate, traditional registers, similar to a car odometer (click here for more information about how to read your meter), and the numbers will only advance if water passes through the meter from the District's supply lines to your property. The AMR device has a specific serial number that is directly associated with a meter's serial number, both of which correspond to the numbers reflected in the District's billing system. The AMR device on the register transmits the reading on the register to a central collection point. The register is

Meters are read anywhere from 5 - 11 days prior to the Bill Date noted on your bill. Staff takes great care to ensure that an appropriate amount of time between monthly readings passes, so that the number of days of consumption billed each month is consistent.

Other charges such as sewer service, monthly service charges, etc., are charges that are billed on a per day basis.

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Step 2: Edit Meter Readings

Professionally trained billing specialists review the readings which have been gathered from the Meter Department staff. The billing specialists, with the aid computer programs, search for any abnormal readings which are investigated; or zero usage readings, which may indicate a stopped meter.

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Step 3: Bill Calculation

Once the billing specialists ensure that all readings have been taken and are accurate, they begin a process which calculates all of the charges on a bill. Sewer service, monthly account service, power zone and the water consumption are billed according to rates that have been approved by the District's 5-member, publicly elected Board of Directors.

The calculated data is then compiled into a bill file that is ready to print on bills. The bill file is normally sent to the District's bill printing vendor on the Friday morning prior to the Monday Bill Date noted on the bill.

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Step 4: Bill Printing & Mailing

Once a bill file has been compiled, it is then sent to the District's bill printing vendor via a secured internet connection. The printing vendor uses state of the art computer programming and equipment to efficiently print the bill; insert the bill along with a return envelope and other informational inserts into a mailing envelope; apply proper postage; sort and deliver to the U.S. Postal Service for distribution.

The vendor the District has selected is so efficient that most customers will normally receive their bills in the mail the very next day. Rest assured that even if your bill has a Bill Date which falls on a Monday and you receive your bill on Saturday before the Bill Date, your bill is completely accurate and reflects only water consumption up to the date that staff read your water meter. Other charges such as sewer daily service fees are flat daily charges that are charged for the entire billing period. Receiving your bill quickly allows more time for customers to budget appropriately for their payment, which is due no later than 21 days after the Bill Date.

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