Timing & Frequency of Billing
Residential water/sewer bills are generated on a quarterly basis, while industrial water/sewer bills are generated monthly.
For quarterly billing, the city is divided into 3 sections, each having different billing periods and due dates. If you would like to know in which months your bill will be due, please feel free to contact our office. Alternatively, you may reference your bill to find your account number. Which section your property is in is indicated by the first two digits of your account number and can be used to find the months in which a bill will be due in the chart below. The payment for your bill will always be due no later than the 20th of that month.
51 | 52 | 53 |
March | February | January |
June | May | April |
September | August | July |
December | November | October |
Bills are generally issued on the last business day of the month before the due date. For example, if your bill is due on March 20th, your bill would have been generated on the last business day (last day City offices were open) in February.
Who Receives Water/Sewer Bills
Water/Sewer bills are issued in a physical format to the property owner, either to their home address or to their property
manager.
Any amounts billed for water/sewer, if left unpaid, are subject to relevy to the property’s City Tax bill every year in June. Because these balances follow the property and not the individual, tenants are not eligible to receive water/sewer bills in a physical format at this time.
Anyone who pays a bill through Xpress-Pay, the City’s online payment service, is welcome to sign up to receive email alerts through that service when new bills are issued. Please be aware that, by signing up for these alerts, you will also receive alerts when other bills, such as tax bills, are issued for the property.
How Amounts Billed Are Determined
Meters are read at the start of every month. Meters are read via radio signal, which is transmitted by the dial on the meter and received by meter reading equipment before being uploaded at the office. The current reading is referenced against the previous reading to determine the amount of water used during a given billing period.
Three factors are equally taken into account when determining the amount billed to a property owner: time, usage, and meter size. A chart outlining minimum usages billed per quarter by meter size can be found below. Most residential properties are equipped with a 5/8” (0.625 inch) meter. Water consumption within the minimum number of units billed per quarter is not billed in excess of the quarterly minimum charge; it is only consumption in excess of the minimum number of units that results in an increase in the monetary amount billed.
Meter Size (Inches) | Minimum Consumption Billed (Per Quarter) |
5/8 (0.625) | 9 units (6,732 gallons) |
3/4 (0.75) | 15 units (11,220 gallons) |
1 | 27 units (20,196 gallons) |
1 ½ (1.5) | 51 units (38,148 gallons) |
2 | 84 units (62,832 gallons) |
3 | 159 units (118,932 gallons) |
4 | 264 units (197,472 gallons) |
6 | 519 units (388,212 gallons) |
8 | 840 units (628,320 gallons) |
10 | 1,200 units (897,600 gallons) |
Quarterly minimum bills are standard for residential properties, however, extant factors, such as a property sale/purchase, may result in the issuance of an “out-of-cycle” bill for a smaller billing period than the standard 3-month quarter. In such cases, the property may be subject to a 1- or 2-month minimum bill. For example, a property with a 5/8” meter sold one month into the three month billing period would be billed for a minimum of 3 units consumed; consumption in excess of 3 units would result in a higher monetary amount billed.
Amounts charged for sewer use are based on water consumption and are subject to the same quarterly and monthly minimums as amounts charged for water, however, they are billed at a separate rate.
For more information on water and sewer rates, see City Codes Chapter 301, subsection 17, and Chapter 253, Article V, subsection 17.
How To Pay Your Bill
All payments made for bills issued by the various departments within the City of Watertown are received and processed by the Office of the City Comptroller. Payment for water/sewer balances can be mailed to their office, made in person at their offices on the second floor of City Hall, or submitted online via Xpress-Pay.
The City also offers enrollment in our ACH (Direct Debit) Payment Plan for automatic withdrawal of payment for water/sewer bills, the forms for which can be found here. Please carefully read the requirements for enrollment, as incomplete forms will not be processed.
Payments for water/sewer or for labor and materials cannot be made over the phone.
For questions regarding a bill issued to you for water/sewer or for labor and materials, please contact our Administrative Offices at (315)785-7757.
For questions regarding a payment issued to the City for water/sewer or for labor and materials, please contact the Office of the City Comptroller at (315)785-7754.
Late Fees
Any bill left unpaid by its due date, regardless of reason, is subject to the levy of a late fee totaling ten percent (10%) of the original amount due. For example, an unpaid balance of $82.74 would be subject to a late fee of $8.27.
Payments received via USPS that have been postmarked either on or before the due date will be accepted without the penalty of a late fee. For more information on the postmarking processes employed by USPS, please visit their website.
Shut-Offs for Unpaid Accounts
The City reserves the right to shut off water service or levy additional fees up to $250.00 for properties with unpaid accounts. Dates of upcoming shut-offs will be included in notes on water/sewer bills issued in the lead up to the shut off itself. Shut-off notices will also be issued to affected properties at least one month in advance and will be bright red in color.
Annual Relevy (Transfer of Unpaid Balances)
Any amount left outstanding on a water/sewer account as of mid-June in a given year will be subject to relevy to the property’s City Tax bill, issued in July. Reminders of this annual occurrence will be provided via notes included on the water/sewer bills leading up to the relevy
