Norwood‘s Bills Back Under Cover-June 24, 1981

Selectmen Prioritize Privacy Ethics to Rescind Municipal Light Department Postcard Experiment

People won’t have to worry about anyone knowing how much they owe on their electric bills. Protecting the right to privacy moved the selectmen last night to rescind the new practice of sending electric bills by postcard. Good ethics comes before the $10,000 estimated annual savings from the postcard method, Selectman William F. Butters said as he recommended a return to envelope billing. His colleagues agreed, voting 4-1 to end the short-lived experiment, begun only this month as an efficiency measure. William F. Butters said customers owing back bills had a right to keep that information on “arrears” out of sight of others who might read the cards. Several thousand postcard light bills have been sent out. Selectman Thomas A. Riolo said he had received four calls objecting to the new method as an invasion of privacy. His own survey of a dozen citizens showed only two in favor of the change, he said.

Selectman Walter J. Dempsey was also bothered by Town Counsel Justin C. Barton’s comment that the postcard billing, although not illegal, came “very close to a question of invasion of privacy.” Given the right judge, a court challenge on the issue might go either way, he said. Justin C. Barton agreed with William F. Butters that the issue is more ethical than legal. Town Manager John J. Carroll said he had talked with older people who were upset with the postcards as an infringement on their privacy, but he also submitted an analysis prepared by Superintendent William J. Kates of the municipal light department showing the substantial savings from using postcards. The $9,564 annual savings equals $10,402 saved in mailing and envelope costs less the $838 cost of postcards.

Further, the light department was counting on using the 84 man-hours per month needed for inserting bills into envelopes elsewhere to delay hiring an additional person in the billing department. Chairman John F. Kinnaly favored the envelope system, but Selectman William J. Plasko, who was opposed, said only two people talked to him about the new billing. He said he saw no significant problem and favored the postcard economy move unless town counsel confirms there is a legal issue. Customers can expect discreet light bills back in envelopes sometime in August. John J. Carroll said it would take about six weeks to reverse the billing system. Its cost, which had not been budgeted, probably will require a transfer of funds by the end of the upcoming fiscal year, he said.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger