SANFORD, Fla. — Work is now being done in residential areas of Sanford, as contractors begin installing new water meters.

City officials say the $10.8 million project will result in more accurate billing statements and water usage data for customers.

The installation of new water meters is expected to take anywhere from 18 to 24 months.

Over the past years, residents say they have dealt with confusing fluctuations in their billing statements, which city officials hope to rectify.

Helen Walker, who moved into a rental property in 2020, says her water bill was $67 back then. Now, she says, her bill has been extensively high, higher than it’s ever been.

“It’s about $400 a month,” Walkers said.

Walker says ever since she noticed an increase in her bill, she’s contacted the city and her landlord to get answers.

Her landlord, D and J Investments of America, has 30 rental properties across the city of Sanford, paying most of their tenants’ water bills on their behalf.

“On South Street ... that water bill just lately went extremely high from an average of I would say $60 a month to $342 a month and I think that’s extremely high,” said Rosa Jones, with D and J Investments.

Jones says a maintenance team will go and check the properties to ensure there are no water leaks and also check the current meter to ensure its functioning property. 

City staff say the reason for unreliable billing statements is due to a number of reasons.

“The meters have been estimated because of the batteries kind of failing on them alone,” said Sanford utility manager Bill Marcous. “By the time we get out there and get a manual read to see exactly what has happened, the failure on the meter is not that they’re not tracking the water usage. It’s just not transmitting when we’re driving by. That’s currently our technology that we use as a drive by system. So now when we get out there and get a manual read, we sometimes find that a lot more was used than was estimated.”

Marcous says the advanced metering technology will allow the city to read water meters remotely and collect water usage data daily.

The systems will be installed at homes according to billing cycles.

Marcous says older homes and homes in the downtown area will most likely see the installments first.

The current billing statements will still affect tenants until the new system is put in.

“I’m still going to be stuck with a $343 water bill until they get it right, and that’s a lot of money for 18 months,” said Walker.

The city says residents will receive a door hanger notification between two days to two weeks prior to the meter installation. 

Upgrades are expected to be completed by the end of 2025.