Mandeville government officials dedicated the majority of Thursday night’s regularly scheduled City Council meeting to quelling the community uproar triggered by a drastic increase in the latest municipal water and sewer bills.

The city has been bombarded with complaints from residents who claimed they were blindsided when the water and sewer bills received this month skyrocketed as much as 500%. It is the city’s first water rate increase since 2017.

Finance Director Jessica Farno conducted a PowerPoint presentation to explain the need for the higher rates and the financial shortfall in the city’s water system.

Mayor Clay Madden said the city posted notices about the increase on its social media pages and sent a letter in recent water bills to alert the public. Clearly, the message didn

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