Binghamton water bills have been reformed....

And the recent changes have some people asking lots of questions.

The city has set up some forums to help.

Action News Reporter Caitlin Nuclo was at one of those meetings tonight and has some answers...

Patricia Pratt is one of many people from Binghamton...

A bit confused over the city's new water billing system.

"I had some concerns about the water bill as to when I was going to be billed because the sheet I received wasn't quite clear," said Pratt.

Tuesday night, city leaders offered help, as a number of changes have been made:

There are now more payment options.

Including partial payment plans and paying your bill online.

As well as new schedules for billing and reading meters.

The city says the old system just wasn't working.

"There was such a lag that people were receiving bills for water they used close to 8 months ago so people didn't necessarily understand the payments for their water usage," said Executive Assistant to the Mayor, Tarik Abdelazim.

The city is also taking a strong stance on delinquent accounts. Those who haven't paid their last two bills or have a balance of over 1000 dollars will have their water shut off.

"If you have a service and you use it, you need to pay for it," said Abdelazim.

There are also some conveniences for users...

The payment period for bills will be extended...from 30 to 45 days.

Good news for Pratt.

"When you're on a fixed income you need to know those things," said Pratt.

"We're allowing them the chance to budget themselves and to use the partial payments as a way to take care of that bill," said Abdelazim.

With the new system comes a raise in water rates.

But the city says it's still much cheaper than buying bottled water.

And encourages people to turn on the faucet to quench their thirst.

Tonight was the first of 7 neighborhood assembly meetings to help people understand the recent changes to water billing in Binghamton.

The next is Thursday night at 6 at Centenary-Chenango Street United Methodist Church.

There's more meetings to come next week...

For a complete schedule, log on to www.cityofbinghamton.com.