(The Center Square) – Nearly a month after the Bossier City Council learned the department was estimating resident water bills due to meters not reading, a unanimous vote this week allocated $3 million to fund phase one of a water meter replacement project.
Throughout Bossier City, 1,754 residential water meters and 859 commercial meters are not working. For each account that isn’t working, the department estimated water use based on the last six months.
Now that the council has allocated $3 million in funding, phase one of the water meter replacement project can begin. The administration predicted phase one would take about six months and phase two would be in the 2026 Bossier City budget.
Originally, the administration requested $250,000 to replace on-demand meters, which prompted discussion in the council about the cost to replace the originally estimated 2,600 broken meters. After receiving updated pricing and information, Chief Administrative Officer Amanda Nottingham said 3,370 meters need replacing with a $3 million price tag.
The new estimate is a bit higher than the original 2,600 to include meters that might break during the replacement process.
“If we can get the initial meter replacement done with phase one, we do believe we will bring in a substantial amount of revenue that would then help fund the other phases of the replacements,” Nottingham previously told the city council. “It is something that we are working to incorporate for the 2026 budget.”
After replacing the broken meters, the city will make up the losses after a year, with an estimated revenue of $2.6 million.
