The New Orleans City Council is pleading with the Sewerage and Water Board to actually fix issues with billing.
It comes after another round of reports that people are still getting inaccurate statements and repeated estimated bills.
"I have a bill here from a customer who got a $142,000 bill," Councilman Joe Giarrusso told the board. "I feel like Sewerage and Water Board is in a 12 step program, and it has a real problem even admitting that it has a problem."
He says after years of efforts to get the Sewerage and Water Board management to right its ship, they just don't get it.
"It just has reached a point where I don't feel like the agency truly understands the importance and urgency of where we are right now."
Councilman JP Morrell says if the S&WB doesn't fix this, and soon, the city and/or state are going to move ahead with plans to take over the agency.
"Everyone at Sewerage and Water Board that's working there, you won't be there any more if you are in leadership."
Grey Lewis is the board's CFO.
"We are working everyday to improve the situation," he told a council committee meeting. "We're in the midst of a billing turn around. This smart metering project installation is going to the core issue."
He says the smart meter program will provide correct bills and solve the problem of staff shortages leading to estimating people's bills.
"We installed nearly 35,000... so a quarter of the population."
Lewis says as the roll out more smart meters, the billing issues will be solved.
