What Happened? Why My NJ Water Bill Seemed To Double

Have you ever gotten a bill before and questioned if you actually forgot to pay it? You swear you made the payment, but now you're wondering if you're losing your mind.

I just went through this with my water and sewer bill. I received my statement in the mail like I do every quarter, but noticed the overall amount due was higher than usual.

Actually, it was a lot higher. Literally double what we normally have to pay. At first I thought, did our utility rates really go up that high?

I know pretty much everyone in New Jersey is screwed with rising electric rates, don't tell me water and sewer is also going up.

Something strange

Of course, being this is New Jersey, raising rates on anything isn't shocking. But a virtually doubled statement? That didn't seem to make sense.

But then, I noticed something that was odd. There was a past due balance listed when I could've sworn I paid it. So before paying, I decided to double check myself.

I went back and looked through my statements, when I noticed something with an odd description. It was a combination of numbers, like a phone number, with the word tax included.

The amount that was charged for that transaction matched up to what my utility statement said was past due, so I called up my credit card company just to verify. All they could tell me about that transaction was that it was manually keyed in and took place somewhere in New Jersey.

Deeper digging

Now, this is where it gets interesting. Upon researching that description, it pulled up the water and utility site for a New Jersey town I've never lived in before. At least I can now confirm that I'm not going crazy - I did pay something, it just looked like it went to the wrong town.

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So at this point in time, my previous balance on this bill seemed to match up with this statement charge that appeared to go to the wrong town. Add to the fact that the transaction was manually keyed, that led me to believe that someone made a mistake when applying my payment.

When I went to town hall to address this, they told me they've been getting calls from people in other towns about the same issue. Apparently, whatever company is processing these payments, they're causing confusion for tax payers not understanding where their payments are going.

Fortunately for me, my town had everything squared away and there was no issue. My payment did make it to my town where it belonged and all was good.

However, employees at town hall did say that it has happened before where the payments didn't process correctly. Very good info to know for the future.

Confusing error

I guess I didn't think much about the statement description in the past because I always assumed I knew where the payment was going. But now I know that sometimes, these things can happen where it either appears the utility payment went to the wrong town, or there legit was a problem beyond that.

Kudos though to my local town as they were able to address my question promptly and clearly. Had I not gone down to town hall in person, I would've never known that this was a known issue.

This was for my water and sewer bill, but I wanted to bring this up in case this ever happens to you. If you've sworn you made a payment and it doesn't reflect on your next statement, question it.

The worse that can happen is that you misunderstood what you were seeing. But, as I just learned, sometimes that confusion might go deeper than that.

The above post reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 Sunday morning host & content contributor Mike Brant. Any opinions expressed are his own.