Victoria Valenzuela Questions Baker City Council Over Ongoing Water Billing Problems

At Tuesday’s Baker City Council meeting, Baker City resident Victoria Valenzuela used the public comment period to press officials over recent water billing practices and high utility charges, saying, "This is a continuing problem." Her comment came amid ongoing reconciliation work and a 30-day billing gap that began in May 2025, when the city did not send any bills.

Mayor Randy Daugherty acknowledged the turmoil, saying, "It was an absolute mess," and adding, "We’ve made a lot, a lot of progress. We haven’t fixed the mess yet. It’s been a high priority." City Manager Barry Murphy told Valenzuela, "We’re just as disappointed as you are," and said he had considered switching to new billing software but estimated such a transition would cost "$300,000 to $500,000." Murphy noted he "wasn’t hired until December of that year," referring to December 2023.

Councilor Loran Joseph said he had been confused by problems with his own bill and met with Finance Director Jeanie Dexter to try to understand the situation. Joseph told the council, "We want to fix it," and added, "We are actively fixing it." Dexter and accounts receivable specialist Ashly Pearce have been working to eliminate the 30-day gap that began in May 2025, according to city staff.

Finance Director Jeanie Dexter traced the root of current confusion to a prior council decision in the spring of 2023 to switch to new utility billing software and to move to annual average billing. The city transitioned to the new software and the annual average method in May 2023, billing water usage in arrears on an annual average basis - a change the city acknowledged "has made it difficult for customers to understand their water bill or quickly detect water leaks."

City staff described a multi-part reconciliation intended to restore meter-read, usage-based billing. Staff shortened the billing cycle from four weeks to three weeks while clearing a backlog, and reported on a June 24 update that zones 5 and 6 had already received a second bill with reconciliation adjustments and zones 7 and 8 were scheduled to receive their next bills the following week. Staff said they were finalizing the last reconciliation zone and that the reconciliation process had identified a substantial number of leaks that repairing should reduce future consumption.

The city provided concrete examples of how reconciliations would appear on customer bills for service spanning May 2023 through April 2025. The city used an estimated annual average of 565 units, base units of 3 per month for 24 months equaling 72 units, a rate of $1.13 per unit, and a base monthly rate of $53.28 in its examples. In Example 1 a customer with actual usage of 682 units would face a one-time charge for water usage of $50.85 and total water charges of $104.13. In Example 2 a customer with actual usage of 605 units would receive a one-time credit of $36.16 and total water charges of $17.12. The city advised customers with questions to contact the Water Department at 541-523-6541.

Staff also said problems arose from the interface between the city’s billing system and third-party payment processors. In a city release, staff wrote that the internal billing data and the program creating the billing register "continued working properly," but that email notifications from the third-party vendor XpressBillPay listed incorrect amounts and should be disregarded because customers’ statements and auto payments reflected the accurate amounts. The city said it was "working to fix the email notification."

Unresolved issues remain: the council has not confirmed whether it will fund a full software replacement in the $300,000 to $500,000 range, and staff said they will return with confirmation once final reconciliation bills have been sent. Meanwhile, Dexter and Pearce continue outreach and corrective work to close the May 2025 billing gap and finalize reconciliations across the city’s eight read zones.