Yorkville-Bristol Sanitary District tells non-residential accounts to ignore incorrect high invoice rates

Payment Portal will be closed until new invoices sent

The Yorkville-Bristol Sanitary District has told its non-residential customers to disregard invoices it sent out with immense – and erroneous – price increases.

According to a news release, while operational and infrastructural improvements will result in higher sewage treatment rates, they will be substantially lower than the initial invoice indicated.

“It was a mistake and we are going over it in much more detail, conducting greater spot checks, and incorporating more feedback from the community,” YBSD Executive Director Cyrus McMains said.

Invoices with the correct rate increases will be sent at the end of August. The Payment Portal will be disabled until that date. If an account holder has made a payment based off the incorrect rate hike, their account will be credited or a refund will be sent to the holder.

McMains said the reasons for the rate increases are multifold, including, the rapidly growing community, the need to improve aging infrastructure, and tighter regulations requiring utility modifications. He said they were trying to take the decadeslong existing wage structure for residential properties and extrapolate the rates to non-residential accounts.

The YBSD has received a high quantity of feedback from the community since the incorrect invoice was distributed. Questions and concerns should be directed to the YBSD offices.

Many community members criticized the billing system being based upon allotment, rather than actual water usage. McMains said they will take public concerns into consideration, but stressed that their utilities need to be prepared for a property’s water usage habits regardless of how often they actually use the water. He said the YBSD needs to plan for that infrastructure in advance and be prepared for expanding water usage amounts.