How We Read Meters
The City of Bozeman uses radio frequency meters, which are read by hand held equipment from outside your home. Most meters are read simply by driving by the home or building. The read downloads from the meter into our hand held equipment. Your water meter is usually located in the basement or crawl-space of your home or building.
Unit of Measurement
The unit of measure that we use to bill water and sewer is hundred cubic feet (HCF). There are approximately 750 gallons in one hundred cubic feet.
Delinquent Water Bills
All City utility bills are due by the 15th of each month. We send out a courtesy reminder on the 16th of each month for balances that are older than 45 days. If, after this notice, the balance remains uncollected, the account may be subject to water being shut off. There is a $25 service fee if the property must be notified of water shut off with a yellow door hanger. If your water is shut off due to non-payment, a reconnect fee of $25 during business hours and $75 after business hours will be assessed. The full balance owing, the hang tag service fee, plus any reconnect fees must be paid in full by cash, money order or credit card before water service will be restored. Someone must meet water department personnel at the residence to have the water turned back on.
Information for Property Management Companies
All City utility accounts must always stay in the name of the owner of the property, unless it is to be billed under a homeowner or condo association. Tenants are not allowed to put the utility accounts under their name. If you would like a tenant to receive a utility bill, we can send the bill to: Property Owner's Name, c/o current resident, at the service address. In order to do this, the owner must sign the City of Bozeman Utility Waiver, or the property management company can send us written instructions to send the bill to the tenant. If the property management company needs to receive the bill, we can do that also with written instructions.
Since we bill in arrears, it is the property management company's responsibility to make sure the tenant has paid the bill through their move-out day. Otherwise the debt may fall on the owner or the next tenant. If you need help figuring out how to do this, feel free to give us a call.
Garbage service can only be started with the permission of the owner of the property. This may be given through a Utility Waiver or by the owner calling us directly. Unpaid garbage and sewer charges are placed as a lien against the property.