Baltimore City will move into the 21st century with a new system for residents to pay water bills on Oct. 1. The otherwise archaic system required residents to rely on paper bills in the mail. For the first time, residents can sign up to get all future bills emailed alongside email reminders, auto pay and payment by text message.
It’s a big change that advocates say they are hoping means fewer mistakes by the city and that any leaks or issues are caught faster.
Rianna Eckel, organizer for Food and Water Watch said she’s cautiously optimistic.
“For so many years there haven’t been ways to access bills very easily. The department just sends out a bill and that’s what you owe,” Eckel said.
Some residents have gone months without a water bill, then have been shocked when they suddenly owe a large sum, she said.
“Folks will not receive bills for months and then get one that covers the months that they missed,” she said.
Historically, when there’s an abnormally high water bill, city officials tell residents that there’s a leak on their end and they must hire a certified plumber to prove that there’s no leak before they move forward in the billing dispute process, she said.
In-person payment centers in various neighborhoods are expected to open in December for those who don’t prefer online bill payment.
One change Eckel said she would suggest is to eliminate fees for other payment methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Venmo.
“I would encourage people to get rid of those fees,” she said. “People are already paying a lot of money. Fees are regressive.”
She also cautioned that residents might want to wait before signing up for auto-pay in case there’s a large bill they would otherwise dispute first withdrawn from their bank accounts.
Baltimore city officials said that the fees are paid to the vendor, not the city and they can’t control it.
The city’s Board of Estimates approved a contract of roughly $96,700 with technology company Paymentus.
The new website which is not yet live will allow residents to see all their water bills and usage in one place; it's a modernization effort spearheaded by the Mayor Brandon Scott administration.
Any residents with recurring payments already scheduled need to reschedule on the city’s website.
“We don’t know if it’s going to be absolutely perfect, but we’ll have our call center and information technology center available, “ said Carla Nealy, chief of the city bureau of revenue collections. “We’ll constantly tweak this process as the months go on.”
