The city of Dayton is trying to keep its residents and businesses from getting burned by unexpectedly large water bills, via a new effort to notify them of sudden spikes in water usage.

Dayton Finance Director Cheryl Garrett told City Commissioners Wednesday that since November, the city has been putting brightly-colored door hangers on properties with sudden water increases.

She said Dayton has delivered fewer than 20 of the door hangers so far, following up with a phone call when the city has a phone number tied to the account. The city notice announces that a potential leak has been detected, urges people to check for leaking faucets or toilets, and encourages them to call the city water department at 333-3550. For $55, the city will do a meter reading profile.

Residents receive water bills only once every three months, so if a major leak goes unnoticed, the cost can pile up into the hundreds or thousands of dollars on the next bill. The Dayton Daily News wrote in October about a Dayton couple who received an unexpected $2,400 three-month bill – about 12 times more than normal – leading them to enter an extended payment plan.

City Commissioner Joey Williams said Wednesday that he’s heard similar complaints.

“That’s what I get calls on, is people saying they didn’t know … that they had a leak until they get their bill after 90 days,” Williams said.

Dayton is in the process of switching its water meter reading from a manual system done by people on foot, to an automatic meter reading system that can be done much faster, from a car driving down the street.

Garrett said once the new system is fully operational, Dayton could read every meter in the city in less than a week, with the data quickly downloaded into software that identifies sharp changes in usage.

City officials also discussed the possibility of switching to a monthly billing system, rather than a quarterly system. No decision has been made, but Commissioner Nan Whaley said that switch would help residents do their budgeting, as most bills are paid monthly.

Garrett said while the automatic meter reading will save the city money, switching to monthly billing would be an added cost because of three times as much postage and printing cost, plus additional credit card processing fees.

Those costs could be mostly offset if more Dayton water customers signed up for the city’s online billing system. Garrett said only about 8 percent of Dayton customers use the online system.

Mayor Gary Leitzell suggested the possibility of quarterly billing, but with monthly usage data posted online so users could check.

The city also discussed titling all utility accounts in the property owner’s name, rather than having accounts in renters’ names. City Manager Tim Riordan said Cincinnati uses that system, but added that landlords would likely oppose it.