Near-$20,000 water bill is an error
City water users sometimes complain about high water bills but Kurke Curl of McCook has them all beat - he received a bill this month for $19,000.
The bill included $1,003 in tax and 999,000 gallons of water used.
Although he has three properties, two in the city and one on Ravenswood Road, the bill was for the residence on the Ravenswood Road only.
"I must have a pretty good septic tank to hold almost a million gallons of water," he said.
The city called, admitted the error and told him they would replace the water meter on the Ravenswood Road residence.
The water meter was not quite a year old, Curl noted.
This is the second time the city has made a mistake in his water bill, he said.
Two years ago he paid his water bill on his three properties and the entire amount was credited to one residence.
He claims the city refused to admit the error and past due penalty fees were assessed on the other two properties.
This time, the error was obvious, he said.
And luckily, the residence on Ravenswood Road doesn't get billed for trash or sewer, he joked.