GILROY
– The fight between the city and Jenny Liu is over, and the
public may never get an explanation for a handful of unusually high
water bills.
GILROY – The fight between the city and Jenny Liu is over, and the public may never get an explanation for a handful of unusually high water bills.
Rather than defend their water-billing procedures in an expensive court battle, city officials have decided to forgive all $120 of Liu’s August water bill, which they had previously reduced from $421.
Liu, of 8907 Church St., had a lawyer on the case and was preparing to take the city to small-claims court. She said she didn’t care about the money but wanted an explanation why the city charged her for 98,000 gallons of water, an amount she said she could not possibly have used in one month.
According to city Administrative Services Director Michael Dorn, “It was clear to us … that in order to win this, it was going to cost our water customers much, much more than the value of her bill.”
The city made the offer in a letter dated Nov. 19 – Liu’s birthday – and delivered Nov. 26. Liu, after consulting with her lawyer, accepted earlier this month.
“It turned out exactly the way I – I wouldn’t say expected, but what I hoped for,” Liu said. “I’m happy I can get on with my life.”
Nevertheless, Liu said, she doesn’t feel the same sense of closure she would have if a judge told the city it had an erratic-billing problem.
“I was hoping that more investigation would be done so we could figure out what was causing this,” Liu said. “I hope it doesn’t happen to other people again.”
As an alternative to court, Liu had previously said she would accept an offer to charge her for average monthly usage. Over the past two years, this average was 15,000 gallons a month.
On Friday, the city will replace Liu’s water meter and send the old one to the manufacturer for testing. Dorn and a manufacturer’s representative have said the meters are incapable of overcalculating water usage. San Jose Water Co. Customer Service Director Bob Day said he had heard of extremely rare cases in which a meter could skip numbers.
The city has also settled with at least three other Gilroy homeowners who reported high water bills. Jeff and Julie Gopp, with 98,000 gallons in July, and Mark Zappa, with 99,000 gallons in May 2001, received partial credit in mid-November for the bills they had already paid. The city also gave credit to one or two others who had smaller – but still at least double normal – bills, Dorn said. He declined to identify these customers.
August was Liu and her husband J.J.’s first full month in their new house. Liu said they kept the automatic sprinkler system at the same level as the previous owners – 15 minutes every other day – and had no unusual water use. Their water bills dropped dramatically after August: 13,000 gallons in September and 8,000 in October. Liu said she continued to water her lawn with the same frequency in September as in August.
