City Adds Payment Option For Water Bills [AUDIO]

Casper Public Utilities has added a payment option for paying your water bill. Jesse Springer, administrative analyst for the City of Casper, says the online payment option has been in the works for about a year and the first step is to sign up.

Requested payment option:

"We've been adding payment options pretty steadily for the last three years or so and this is just another payment option that people have been asking for, and we think it'll be a lot more convenient for some people. Go to our city Web site, www-dot-casperwy-dot-gov, and follow the links and sign up. They would probably want to have their bill with them so they can have their account number, and they can pay there and they can start getting bills electronically if they want to."

Mr. Springer said the point of signing up is so that customers have that layer of security to their account.

When asked if the online payments might put the nice people at the city office out of a job, Springer said no, they still have plenty to do.

Added convenience, nobody loses job:

"They still have plenty to do. They handle all the service orders, so if there's a problem with water service, starting a service, stopping a service. They handle other phone calls for the city. They handle other payments for the city, so they have plenty to do with this. We added this mainly as a convenience for our customers, not to eliminate staff."

That Web site again, www.casperwy.gov. Springer says the most Casper customers simply mail in their water payments, but they also have an easy payment option where payments can be paid automatically from an account. To verify your account for automatic payment, they'll need a voided check to confirm the routing number to the account.

There's also a 24-hour phone number where you can call, 1-877-354-2411, to check the balance of your water bill. Springer says checking your balance by phone is free, but if you make a payment by phone, there's a $1.50 fee from the vendor.