2 lawsuits filed over St. Petersburg's high water bills, city provides relief to homeowners
The Brief
Attorney Matt Weidner is suing the City of St. Petersburg over abnormally high water bills.
The city took steps on Thursday to help homeowners through the process.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - This week, an attorney filed two lawsuits against the City of St. Petersburg for abnormally high water bills. This comes after thousands of customers received bills hundreds of dollars more and, in some cases, thousands of dollars more than typical bills.
Big picture view
FOX 13 first broke this story weeks ago.
On Thursday, St. Petersburg City Council made moves to help homeowners who are dealing with extraordinarily high water bills. Among them: you will not have to hire a plumber or repair a leak in order to get a refund.
RELATED: St. Pete families left with extremely high water bills after hurricanes may be getting relief
While the city took steps to help homeowners through the process, there still was not a substantive explanation for how it happened.
Now, at least two lawsuits have been filed against the city alleging breach of contract and deceptive trade practices.
What they're saying
"I'm just dumbfounded, even worse today than when we first started this process," said Attorney Matt Weidner. He is among those fighting high water bills. His Snell Isle home was gutted after Hurricane Helene and he still received a $1,000 bill.
He filed a lawsuit Monday against the city alleging breach of contract and deceptive trade practices.
He also filed suit on behalf of a 92-year-old woman who has a $10,000 dollar bill for a vacant home, since she resides in a nursing home.
PREVIOUS:High water bills: St. Pete leaders vote to stop late fees, water shut offs after resident complaints
"Nobody was in that house. Makes no sense whatsoever," he said.
He says Thursday's meeting was frustrating. Though staff insisted it's not an issue with the city's meters, Weidner is not convinced of that.
"The analysis was wholly unsatisfactory. I heard almost no discussion at all of what is the real issue, which is consumption," said Weidner.
Staff presented several theories, but there has yet to be a definitive determination for the issue.
"Whether it's a glitch in the matrix, it's a hardware issue, it's a software issue, there is something there that needs to be recognized, and I think we will figure it out as time goes on," said City Councilman Mike Harting.
As our reporting highlighted, the current process put the burden on homeowners to prove a negative.
MORE:Homeowner gets $6,000 water bill amid irregular bills in St. Pete
"They hired a plumber. The plumber can't find a leak. Our response is, 'no leak, no repair, no refund.' I'm not comfortable with that. I looked at Sarasota. They have this abnormal circumstance language. I think that can help people," said City Administrator Rob Gerdes.
The city can now help homeowners without jumping through as many hoops.
"It gives us some flexibility to help homes outside of, you have to prove to us that you had a leak. Now there are some departmental procedures, you don't have to go to the (Utility Billing Review Committee) so there's a couple less steps to get relief, so it comes faster," said City Council Chair Copley Gerdes.
Weidner is hoping his lawsuit will answer some of the accountability questions, and is encouraging those with high water bills to make noise.
"Listen, my phone is ringing off the hook. I can't possibly help any fraction of the people that are calling in here. What people have to do is e-mail city council with their examples, because the only way this is going to get fixed is if city council can wrap their brain around this problem," said Weidner.
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What's next
In the meantime, the city has paused late fees and disconnections for people with high bills.
The city council will also be looking to make some ordinance changes to better help homeowners in the future. They will take that up in March.
The Source
Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Genevieve Curtis.
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