CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi is topping a national list as having the highest utility bills per customer in the nation, according to Doxo.com.
City Manager Peter Zanoni questions the results by Doxo but knows it is not good news while the city is trying to attract new residents.
Doxo is a bill-paying service, and they released an analysis of the bill-pay behavior of residents in 900 cities and areas across the country, revealing who pays the most and who pays the least.
Corpus Christi ranks as the city with the highest utility bills at an average of $630. Residents of Newton, Iowa, pay the lowest rate.
"That study should be taken somewhat with a grain of salt because it may not be an applet to apple comparison. Our rates, as an example, include a stormwater fee in the water bill. Other cities like San Antonio and other Texas cities have a separate stormwater rate," Zanoni said.
According to Zanoni, the street maintenance fee is also included.
City Councilmember Gil Hernandez says he's not surprised by the results.
"You've heard me speak about preventative maintenance. Well, we haven't done that for the last several decades, so it's catching upon us now. We have EPA on our backs in terms of trying to prepare wastewater systems. Our infrastructure underneath the streets. We're spending millions and millions of dollars trying to upgrade these things," Hernandez said.
"Our infrastructure is aging just like everybody's across the country, so having a good replacement plan, a good repair plan, all that takes money," Zanoni said.
While Zanoni says he doesn't have faith in the ranking, there is still a ways to go to bring the city's water system up to standard.
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