New city water meters are being installed now

Richard Dale English

Richard Dale English

Some city residents can expect to see a slight increase in their water bills beginning next month. The water department has successfully completed training and has installed 500 of the new energy-efficient electric meters in residential homes throughout McMinnville.

The meters were purchased from Volunteer Utility Sales, Inc. Altogether there are 6,128 radio-read meters and 82 compound meters. The remaining meters will be installed over the next several months.

The system costs $1.2 million and is expected to increase revenue for the city along with increasing productivity of city employees.

Revenue will increase due to the accuracy of the meters. City officials have said the current meters aren?t completely accurate which allows some residents to get by without paying for all the water they use.

Productivity will increase because the system will take fewer city workers less time to read the meters. Meter readers will only have to drive by the meters in order to get an accurate reading, a situation that sounds familiar to Water and Wastewater director Carl Davis.

?We have had people to call and say the guy just drove on by without stopping,? said Davis. ?This time, they will be right.?

The humor of the situation didn?t escape Mayor Royce Davenport who said, ?This is one of those situations where we are going to start doing what we have been accused of doing all this time. We are going to drive right by those meters without looking at them.?

The meters are expected to net the city over $300,000 annually. The first four years or so will go directly to paying for the system which includes software, training, meters and a 20-year warranty.

Streets with new meters as of Aug. 28:
? Edison
? Gay
? Bluff
? Henegar
? Crain
? McGee
? Sections of Sparta Street
? King
? Mauzy
? McBride
? White
? Van Buren
? Overton
? Grundy
? DeKalb
? Polk
? Jackson
? Mt. View
? Woodmont
? Health Way
? Omni
? Vo-tech
? Belmont
? N. Industrial
? Cadillac
? Dinty Moore
? Red Road
? Mountain
? Childress
? Virginia
? Havron
? Fair
? Sections of North Spring
? Lance
? Rebel Hill
? Madison
? Winton
? Caldwell
? Bonner
? Towles
? Calvin
? Adams
? Walker
? Center
? Yankee
? Patterson
? Fisher
? Sections of North Chancery
? Locust
? Taft
? Sections of Mullican
? Sunnyside Heights
? Sections of Lagoon
? Sections of Clearview
? Field
? Sharpe
? Julian
? Sections of Smithville Hwy
? Needmore
? Slatton Drive
? Rolling Hills 1st
? Rolling Hills 2nd
? Rolling Hills 3rd
? Rolling Hills 5th
? Parsley
? Cooper Drive