Fulton utility bills get new look

Fulton's new utility bills will include more details on meter readings and past usage.
Fulton's new utility bills will include more details on meter readings and past usage.

The City of Fulton's utility bills are getting a facelift.

Kathy Holschlag, the city's chief financial officer, said the new bills not only will be easier to read - and provide more information to customers - but "the cost savings (to the city) is significant" as well.

Instead of ordering special paper from out-of-state, Holschlag said the bills now can be printed on ordinary copy paper that can be purchased locally. The bills will be printed in black and white as well as color, which also will save money.

With a recent software upgrade in the utility billing department that will allow the city to share more account information with customers, she said using the old statements was going to cost several thousand more dollars to send out.

"This is a cost-savings for the city which will, in effect, result in savings to the customers," Holschlag said. "When we realized we could do this and get all that information on there and keep that money in our coffers, I think this will be a good change."

As for the bill itself, she said the biggest difference is that residents now will be able to see all of their meter readings and - eventually - graphic representation of their usage history so they can compare their utility consumption from month to month or year to year, "which I think would be a benefit to everybody."

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.