By Ryan Storz
Last month, Leasburg residents seized upon the trustees board meeting and claimed they were having their water meters read incorrectly.
The issue popped up again last Tuesday night when a man named Levi Martin told the board he had just gotten home from his job, got his mail and saw that he had a near $700 water bill.
Martin said that he could not find any leaks and that he had been trying to find anything that would result in such an extraordinarily high bill.
Leasburg’s water operator, Jared Boast, checked the meter cards and the reading seemed too high, leading Boast to believe that there was a leak somewhere. In just one week, Martin said it appeared that he had used 2,000 gallons.
Boast and Martin left the meeting to look at his meter and, while they were gone, it was discovered that a clerical error had been made. Martin had been billed for over 200,000 gallons. Trustee Kris Knight was the one who had noticed a discrepancy.
Village secretary Pat Schwent said that it was her mistake and, when Boast and Martin returned, the board broke the better news to Martin. He was initially worried, because his bill would be due by Nov. 10.
Village clerk Nicky Phillips gave him a revised bill, but board chairperson Kathy Byrd said that, even though they had fixed the bill, it did not explain why his water usage was so high. The board told Martin that it was possible he was having his outside faucet tampered with.
The problem with Martin’s bill may be a larger issue about Leasburg’s computer system. Schwent said that there are problems with the computer and Phillips agreed. They said they are worried that the computer could crash and they would lose important information.