Utility bill rises steeply: $250 to $74,599

RICHLAND — Unusually high bills often illicit a groan, a gasp or maybe a gag.

But Leland Davis, accustomed to a roughly $250 utility bill for his building in Richland, was nearly floored when he opened his mail Wednesday and saw the astronomical figure on his monthly bill: $74,599.06.

"Holy cow," were Davis' first words.

Instead of blowing a fuse, the longtime Richland automotive-repair business manager took the mishap in stride. He even tried to pay the bill at Richland's City Hall with his American Express card, handing it to a cashier.

"She started to do it, then she saw the bill," Davis said, laughing. " 'Oh, there's something wrong here.' It was a good laugh."

In all, 15 people received similar bills, said Richland Accounting Operations Supervisor Melody Kendall.

"It was a very small number of accounts that we impacted," she said.

Kendall attributed the big bills to two glitches, one in the handheld devices used to check meters and the other in the city's new computer billing program.

She said the handheld devices misread the affected customers' meters, resulting in giant figures being fed into the billing system. Those larger-than-normal numbers then somehow went through the billing program undetected.

"We do not know why these did not show up," she said.

Still, Kendall doesn't expect the glitches to recur.

She said the handheld devices have been fixed and additional "queries" have been entered into the computer billing system, which should act as another layer of digital mesh, screening out abnormal figures.

"We're putting checks and balances in place to make sure this doesn't happen," she said.

Standing in front of his building Thursday morning, Davis couldn't stop laughing at his bloated bill. He said he's kept a copy and has jokingly begun hitting up friends for extra cash to help him make payments.

Davis has co-owned the now-vacant vehicle-repair shop since 1977. His recent bill, he guessed, was close to equaling the total amount of utilities paid by businesses that have rented his building over the past decade.

He said employees with the city of Richland were understanding and easy to work with when he brought the billing glitch to their attention.

Still, his message to the city, delivered with a chuckle, was: "Just don't send me another one."