NORTH MANKATO — For years North Mankato has been debating how to transition from old water meters that require residents to write meter readings on their monthly water bills to an automated system that provides real-time water-use rates to the city.
The automatic meters are more accurate and would save the city significant money as employees wouldn’t have to calculate all of the handwritten meter readings each month.
The city late last year decided to require all rental properties to have auto meters installed at the property owners’ expense, with the meters installed by city public works employees or a licensed plumber.
At a work session Monday night the council discussed whether to also require the automatic meters be installed when a property is sold or when a homeowner gets a permit to do a bathroom or kitchen renovation costing $2,000 or more. In the end, the council agreed to hold off on pushing for more auto meters for now.
Public Works Director Luke Arnold said that his staff is already busy installing new meters and any significant increase in new meters could overwhelm his department.
“What we’re doing now is beginning to tax us,” he said. Arnold said if the council wanted to push for a more rapid addition of new meters he would suggest the city hire a contractor to install them or add staff to do it.
Arnold said he does believe the automated readers are best, saying he believes the city is losing out on revenue because the older mechanical meters deteriorate and read water flows at a lower rate than what is actually being used.
He said that on one hand adding a lot of new meters would require more city investment, but on the other hand “the meters are our cash register.”
Councilman Jim Whitlock said he was concerned that requiring new meters at the time of a property sale could unfairly hold up a sale because the city staff wouldn’t be able to keep up with installing them in time.
While residents are able to hire a private plumber to install the meters, some on the council said it is often tough for people to find a plumber to do the job in the current marketplace.
Councilwoman Sandra Oachs said it would be best to wait to see how the new rental property requirement works out for city staff before adding more requirements for new meters.
So far, the transition to automatic-read water meters has been slow as new meters have only been required as part of new construction, when non-working meters are replaced or when residents voluntarily choose to switch to automated readers.
About 13% of the city currently has automated water meters.