§ 44-28. Complaints; adjustments; leaks.

(a)

The operations manager and mayor shall review all requests for adjustments before any action or adjustment is taken or made.

(b)

If a consumer's service is adversely affected as a direct result of air in lines due to main line breaks, the mayor is authorized to make reasonable adjustments to water bills, upon receiving verification of such causation from the operations manager.

(c)

The town will make special meter readings at the request of a customer for a fee of $3.00; provided, however, that if such special reading discloses that the meter was over-read, said fee shall not be charged.

(d)

Meters will be tested at the request of the consumer upon payment of a $10.00 fee to the town to defer the cost of making the test; provided, however, that if the meter is found to over-register beyond three percent of the correct volume, no such fee will be charged.

(e)

If the seal of a meter is broken by other than the town's employees or if a meter fails to register correctly or is stopped for any cause, the consumer shall pay an amount estimated from the record of his previous bills and/or other data at the option of the town.

(f)

In the event of an extraordinary water usage due to a leak on the consumer's side of the meter, the mayor may credit the consumer's account by calculating said consumer's average monthly water consumption at the location in question over the immediately preceding 12 months and subtracting that 12-month average from the total gallons used during the billing cycle in which the leak is reported and repaired and charging the consumer for said billing cycle at his or normal rate for the water used up to the average monthly consumption and a rate equal to the town's actual cost per 1,000 gallons of water used above said consumer's average monthly consumption. The mayor shall be authorized to allow the charges at the town's cost to be paid in up to 12 consecutive, equal monthly installments at the request of the consumer. No such adjustment shall be made unless the consumer proves such a leak existed and was repaired through plumber's invoices, invoices from plumbing suppliers or other documentation to the mayor's satisfaction. Furthermore, no consumer shall receive more than one such adjustment in any 12-month period.

(Ord. No. 2006-02, § 2(XI), 9-5-2006; Ord. No. 2010-01, § 2, 3-2-2010; Ord. No. 2015-02, §§ 1, 2, 2-3-2015; Ord. No. 2019-02 , § 1, 10-7-2019)