Question: “When is the city going to complete the water meter conversion? I have left messages for the mayor and utility collections, but haven’t received a reply. Residents deserve an answer, this has been going on too long.“
MANSFIELD — A $17.3 million citywide water meter replacement project that began five years ago may finally be coming to an end.
Mansfield Public Works Director Louis Andres — who inherited the effort in January 2024 when Mayor Jodie Perry took office — said Tuesday he hopes the final residential and commercial meter replacements will be done by the end of summer.
“The biggest issue we have been having is supply. It’s taking forever (to get new meters). The stuff we ordered last year just came in this spring,” Andres said.
He said the city had “a few” residential sites to complete, which he said should be done within the next 30 days. Andres said the remaining eight to 10 commercial customers should be done in the next 45 days.
“Hopefully by end of summer, it will all be done,” he said.
Part of the problem with the project had been convincing residents to allow workers into their homes to change out the meters.
In September 2023, City Council approved the administration’s plan to charge an additional $75 per month for those who chose not to set up replacement appointments.
“That helped move people along to have the work done,” Andres said.
An app customers can use to monitor water usage is being “beta tested” now and Andres said the city hopes to “go live” with the new tracking product by Aug 1.
“It will be a soft rollout,” he said. “Like any technology, there will be glitches. This app has been one of my top priorities … allowing customers to control and monitor their (own) water supply.
“The improved technology was one of the selling points (of the water meter replacement program). We will begin sending flyers out to customers in August. Each billing cycle will get the updated information,” he said.
Mansfield City Council in 2019 approved the project, an effort to replace about 19,000 meters that began in early 2020 and was immediately slowed by COVID-19.
To pay for the $13.3 million project, lawmakers approved issuance of 10-year bonds on which the city would pay $2,469,474 in interest over the next decade. Paying off the bonds faster would reduce the amount of interest.
At the time it was approved, city engineer Bob Bianchi, who said the project was necessary to replace aging water meters with a new and more accurate system, told council the new system would pay for itself through increased revenue.
In 2019, Bianchi told council the old meters were inaccurate and the city only receives revenue on 40 percent of the water it produces. Bianchi said then the city produces 9.5 million gallons of water per day, yet only collects revenue on 3.8 millions per day, a 60-percent difference.
Water revenues have increased over the last few years, according to records obtained Tuesday from Finance Director Kelly Converse.
In 2021, water revenues were $8.4 million, increasing to $10.1 million in 2022, $13.6 million in 2023 and $16.1 million in 2024.
However, water revenue in the city was roughly flat year-over-year for the first half of 2025. Revenues were $7,543,380 through the end of June, down slightly from $7,778,508 for the first half of 2024.
Part of the increased overall water revenue is due to a series of annual water rate hikes approved by City Council in 2020. Those began in January 2021 and will continue through 2026.
For example, water rates climbed 3 percent in 2021, 10 percent in 2022, 15 percent in 2023 and 10 percent in 2024. After 2026, rates will go up 3 percent annually unless City Council changes it.
Local lawmakers also added a “readiness to serve” charge to every bill in 2023, which added a minimum of $10.93 per month for each customer. That change alone was estimated to add $2.7 million in water revenue annually.
