True story.
In Toronto, each water bill soaks the city for $8.54
The figure is calculated by taking the total cost of billing services — $13.32 million this year, divided by the total number of bills issued — 1.56 million.
I'd like to see what the cost of billing is over the revenue number!
The cost includes more than postage and envelopes. There's meter reading — which alone requires 60 staffers — a call centre to handle questions and complaints, and processing of 440,000 residential payments every four months and 20,000 commercial accounts monthly.
If you think $8.54 is steep, the tab was a whopping $18.69 a bill in 1999.
That was before the six water billing departments of the former municipalities were "harmonized," said Giuliana Carbone, director of revenue services for the city.
OK, let's all harmonize now ... hmmm.
Under pressure from the provincial government, Toronto is producing "performance measures" for the first time to give councillors a better handle on the city's operations.
Isn't the Internet supposed to create efficiencies and save money?