Thursday, May 13, 1999
Water Works' good deed confuses some
Payments being sent to wrong addressee
BY PHILLIP PINA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A new campaign funding litter-prevention programs has caused some confused residents to send water payments to the wrong agency.
The past few weeks, Cincinnati Water Works customers have been receiving a donation request from Keep Cincinnati Beautiful in their bills. The campaign aims to raise $20,000 to spruce up area highways and streets.
The problem is that Keep Cincin nati Beautiful has received a number of water bill payments in addition to donations. The misdirected money has forced the Cincinnati Water Works to scrap the campaign for now.
“We want customers to be able to trust their payments are being handled properly,” said Ann deGroot, superintendent of commercial services at the water works. No one has had their service disrupted by the confusion, she said, and Keep Cincinnati Beautiful has promptly forwarded any misdirected payments to the water works.
The confusion stems from two envelopes in residents' water bills, one to pay the bill, the other to make a donation.
About 65,500 water customers have gotten bills with the donation request inside. Of those who have paid their bills, 17 made their payments in the wrong envelopes, she said. The agency decided to stop the campaign before the request went out to the water works' remaining 180,000 customers.
Keep Cincinnati Beautiful developed the campaign after a similar program in Akron, Ohio, said Linda Holterhoff, its executive director. It approached the city about including a donation request in the water bills, saving on postage and reaching a large population. So far, the campaign has raised about $2,000.
The donation request is part of Keep Cincinnati Beautiful's daffodils and daylilies program, which seeks to plant more than 50,000 of the flowers along local highways, Ms. Holterhoff said. The request includes an envelope for donations marked several times with warnings not to mail water payments in them.
She urged those who have received their bills to closely examine the envelopes to make sure they are using the correct one.
Water works and Keep Cincinnati Beautiful officials are looking at a options to restart the campaign, from better marked envelopes to having water works employees open both envelopes, then forward the donations, Ms. deGroot said.
As for the beautification effort, the flowers have already been planted along Interstate 471, the Mitchell Avenue ramps along Interstate 75, several downtown Cincinnati highway ramps and the Dana Avenue ramp to southbound Interstate 71, Ms. Holterhoff said.
The campaign mailings allow the water works to take advantage of extra weight allowed by its postage rate to help city agencies reach the public, Ms. deGroot said.
Keep Cincinnati Beautiful hopes to restore the campaign as soon as possible, and repeat it annually, Ms. Holterhoff added.
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