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A $900 water bill? Some White Settlement customers may owe that much

"It floored me," she said. "You might as well just disconnect my water right now. I'm an old woman on limited income and I can't pay that."

WHITE SETTLEMENT, TX -- It's one frustrated phone call after another to the City of White Settlement because of a software glitch that apparently under billed customers for months.

The calls started pouring in this week when April's water statements arrived in resident's mailboxes.

Elaine Morse is now being asked to make an almost $900 payment to make up for the disparity, which started last year.

"It floored me," she said. "You might as well just disconnect my water right now. I'm an old woman on limited income and I can't pay that."

Morse said she only moved into her new one-story, modest home in August. She didn't think much of it when her water payments were around $70.

She says she's open to paying some of what is owed but can't afford that huge of a bill.

"This was an error on their part and we feel they should eat part of the costs," said Morse.

The "we" refers to close to 200 other customers, some of whom have taken to Facebook to post pictures and voice concerns.

City Manager Jeff James said they're open to working out payment plans.

"We encourage people to call or come down to the office," he said.

James said a third-party vendor involved with the water system made a mistake, which caused a glitch in how water readings were occurring.

"If you used 11,000 gallons, you got billed for 1,000," said James.

He said they first noticed it about six months ago but it took staff a while to fully account for the errors.

Worst yet, he said the problem was random so that while some households have remained normal, others are seeing a huge shift.

"We don't want to turn off anyone's water," he said.

The city's water department can be found here.

James said staff is working on a presentation for next month's city council session to better explain what happened.

He expects a full house at the meeting.

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