But the 17,000 active users of the old site will need to re-establish their accounts to view and pay their bills online.
The city emailed water customers about the change, but 1,100 notification messages were undeliverable and bounced back, officials said.
City officials urged water customers to sign up or re-register for online payments or use a new mobile app to stay on top of their utility bills.
“We had a really outdated website,” said C. LaShea Smith, Dayton’s finance director. “We knew we had to do something different.”
The city received complaints almost weekly about the water department’s payment website, Smith said.
The city decided to switch vendors for its water and sewer billing services. The city has more than 60,000 customer accounts. The city earlier this year awarded an $865,000 contract to Vertex Business Services, a Texas-based firm.
“We wanted to be able to process and have better payment options, because ours actually lagged far behind most communities with utilities,” Smith said.
Vertex has added information about fees and water consumption that is printed on bills sent through the mail.
Also, a new mail-tracking feature is aimed at reducing returned mail. The bills now provide customers with a status update about their payment plans.
The water department’s website was upgraded and allows customers to access their invoices as a PDF file, so they can easily print off their bills. Customers can select to be e-bill recipients exclusively in lieu of paper statements.
The new site has more in-depth options for users. They can select recurring payments for specific dates. Site visitors can make a one-time payment or cancel a payment that has not been fully processed.
All customers who had online accounts on the old site have been emailed about the need to re-register, Smith said.
About 80 percent of residential customers pay in cash at the water department’s cashier windows, Smith said.
A survey found many of Dayton’s water and sewer customers do not have reliable access to a computer.
But many residential customers who lack computer access have smart phones or mobile devices. City officials said the water department’s new mobile app provides a convenient payment option.
The city’s previous vendor lacked the ability to provide a mobile app.
“The mobile app is more important than the computer,” said Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley.
Some customers have complained of having to come downtown to pay a bill in person.
Some residents said they could not find easy parking or received a parking ticket. Others said it is inconvenient having to arrange a ride or catch a bus.
However, the water department and vendor next year hope to identify some retail stores where residential customers can choose to pay their bills. The new payment sites are meant to be more convenient. Customers will be required to pay a convenience fee.
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