When an area resident called a Wright City utilities clerk last month to report a sewer issue, city staff noticed a glaring problem: The house in question shouldn’t even have running water.Now the property owner is on the hook for almost $6,700 worth of water and sewer service that was supposed to have been cut off in 2010.City aldermen, who must approve special utility payment agreements, were shocked when they saw the charge for the property, which is outside the city limits on the 29000 block of Highway J.“How did we ever get to this point?” asked Ward 2 Alderman Tom Dixon.Fellow Ward 2 Alderman Nathan Rohr, a longtime Wright City public works employee, offered an explanation.“This gentleman was going through a divorce, and so he said to disconnect the water service, take it out of his name,” Rohr explained. At that point, the account went inactive and water service was turned off, Rohr said.When an account is deactivated, the city’s automatic meter reading device stops reading that water meter and staff are supposed to manually check on it every few months, Rohr continued. Somehow this account slipped through the cracks for years, and staff didn’t notice until the sewer complaint, he said.When they checked the meter, staff discovered the residents had been using water for years, with 384,000 gallons of water unbilled, Rohr said. And because the property is outside city limits, it’s billed at a much higher rate.As for how the water was reactivated after it was supposed to be shut off, Rohr said there aren’t any security features installed on the water meters in that area to prevent such tampering.But now the city is once again monitoring the account and is threatening to physically remove the meter and seal the water pipe if the debt isn’t repaid.According to a payment agreement request, the homeowner stated he has limited income, and asked if he could pay $75 per month in addition to his regular monthly bills, which have been reinstated.At that pace, it would take 90 months, or 7 1/2 years, to pay the amount owed.Such an agreement would have to be approved by city aldermen, who were skeptical that $75 per month would be enough. The aldermen voted to wait and observe water usage at the residence for a month, then set a payment plan based on that usage.All of that becomes a moot point, however, if voters approve the sale of Wright City’s water and sewer systems in April. Then the city will collect $10.5 million from Public Water Supply District No. 2 of St. Charles County, and collecting the outstanding debt on the account will be left to the water district.Wright City