Housing Authority finds discrepancies in water study

Discrepancies averaging 31 percent have been found in water bills received by the Ville Platte Housing Authority. The findings were reported during the board meeting Tuesday after Vice Chairman David Ortego and Executive Director Grant Soileau conducted a water study.
The greatest discrepancies were found at units located on N. Soileau, S. Soileau, and N. Dupre.
“I went back and looked to find the closest amount of gallons that we’ve used in the past before the water adjustment,” Ortego said.
The water adjustment in question is when the City of Ville Platte raised its water rates last year.
Ortego added, “This May, we used 11,715 gallons. I found in July 2018 we used 11,740. That’s only 30 gallons different. We paid $5,946 in July, but, in May, we paid $7,889 for an increase of 31 percent.”
He went on to say, “The conclusion of this is, over the last 12 months, water has increased by an average of 31 percent for an average of $2,183 per month more than we used to pay. It comes out to about 66 cents a gallon.”
The board, then, began discussing ways to cut back on water use. Soileau stated a lot of the use comes from running toilets and leaky faucets.
Ortego proposed the idea of taking two days out of the month to “do a full evaluation of drippy faucets and toilets.”
By doing so, the board will have a report showing the exact number of running toilets and leaky faucets.”
After more discussion, Soileau said he will put that plan in action.
Despite the water discrepancies, Ortego reported, “the finances look real good.”
Year to date revenues for 2020 are down $20 thousand from the same time frame last year. But, as Ortego explained, the difference is based on the fact several apartments were being renovated and there is higher than usual delinquencies in rent because of COVID-19.
Offsetting the $20 thousand shortfall, the housing authority enjoyed a $94 thousand increase in earned subsidies bringing total revenues $70 thousand higher than last year.
On the year to date expense side, areas that saw substantial increases are water, sewage, and police services. However, other areas saw decreases in 2020 bringing total expenses down $2,000 after 11 months last year.
In other business, the board:
• approved the budgets for fiscal year 2020.
• approved a police sub-station at the housing complex across from the old L&V.
• approved capital funding projects.
• approved using a deputy city marshal for security work if no police officer is available.