[Yucatan2]

Hello fellow Villagers,

We have received our first VCDD bill. I pay everything that I possibly can on our bank bill pay. It appears that VCDD cannot or will not give you an e-bill, rather than sending the paper bill in the mail.

I know I could set up the electronic draft with them, but if I do, I would still get the paper bill to see what was charged, correct? I e-mailed VCDD to ask, and was told I could e-mail them each month to get a billing amount due, but would not be able to get a copy of the bill!

Seems like it is time for VCDD to come up to regular billing standards, with The Villages nearing 100,000 homes. As more and more baby boomers move in, we are familiar with online bill paying and smart phones, and are trying to get away from snail mail.........

Anyway, does anyone use their banks bill pay for the VCDD bill, rather than letting them auto-draft?

Thanks!

[George1938]

I use my bank to pay. My bill doesn't vary very much, so what I do is pay a little more than the average, automatically. I build up a small credit and the next month it is applied. This works for me. I also would prefer to be billed via the computer but it doesn't look like it will be done anytime soon. I would think it costs much more to bill via snail mail !! Handling all that paper? Why?

[Xavier]

Originally Posted by Yucatan2

Hello fellow Villagers,

We have received our first VCDD bill. I pay everything that I possibly can on our bank bill pay. It appears that VCDD cannot or will not give you an e-bill, rather than sending the paper bill in the mail.

I know I could set up the electronic draft with them, but if I do, I would still get the paper bill to see what was charged, correct? I e-mailed VCDD to ask, and was told I could e-mail them each month to get a billing amount due, but would not be able to get a copy of the bill!

Seems like it is time for VCDD to come up to regular billing standards, with The Villages nearing 100,000 homes. As more and more baby boomers move in, we are familiar with online bill paying and smart phones, and are trying to get away from snail mail.........

Anyway, does anyone use their banks bill pay for the VCDD bill, rather than letting them auto-draft?

Thanks!

We've been doing the auto-draft since the day we moved in. We've never had a problem. Works well for us. I do use bill-pay through our credit union for the mower and the landscaping guy, but even then I have them set up on auto-pay because the monthly amount is always the same. Other than that I only pay the occasional bill with bill-pay. Generally I put everything through on a credit card and rack up the points. We always pay our credit card bills in full each month.

Xavier

[gomoho]

I recently called as well inquiring about e-bills. And I am shocked they don't have this technology in place. I use my bank pay every month and it works out well. Yep, they should get with the program.

[Barefoot]

Each month, the amount of our VCDD Invoice is automatically deducted from our Citizens Bank Account. No action required by us. No problems.

[zcaveman]

I use auto-pay and I scan the bill into the PC and save it for prosperity and shred the paper bill.

This is what they sent me in January when I asked about a VCDD utility bill in PDF format:

A funding request to generate the necessary programming changes to allow for electronic e-mail bills was included in the FY 2012-2013 budget. A companion funding request to allow customers to discontinue receipt of paper bills once they received the e-mail bills was also included. Unfortunately neither funding request was approved for the current year (FY 2012-2013) budget, therefore there are no funds to accomplish the necessary programming.

In the FY 2013-2014 budget upcoming, the Finance Department is going to request a completely new utility billing system, because of the many shortcomings of our existing software. The existing software is of 1980’s initial generation, and it has been modified to the extent that it is becoming difficult to administer. As part of any new billing software we obtain, assuming funding approval in the budget, will be the ability to generate electronic bills and delete receipt of mailed bills at customer option.

I realize this process seems slow to you, but I believe the new software will be approved in the upcoming year’s budget (begins October 1, 2013), which will allow us to move forward on the electronic billing and many other software related issues we have to resolve.


Z

[Yucatan2]

Well, zcaveman, that is good news. Maybe there is an end in sight to this antiquated system of billing.

I will decide on the autopay. I don't like businesses having my checking account number, but the above suggestion of having it go to a charge card is also interesting, to build up those points!

[kfierle]

You can actually look up the amount of your bill online. I do this since it seems to take a very long time to receive the paper bill. It has arrived at my home in New York state the day before it was due. I now access it amount due online and pay it immediately. The paper bill usually arrives 7-10 days later. Just to clarify--I do not pay my bill through this site--I use the bill pay through my bank

Here is how to access the amount owed for the VCDD bill:

1. Go to districtgov.org
2. Scroll down the left side and click on PAY UTILITY BILL
3. Click on MUNICIPAY LLC ON-LINE PAYMENT SERVICE in the blue box in the middle of the page
4. Type in your account number and street address and click search

This will bring up the amount owed on the current bill. You do not have to pay your bill through this site.

I have been doing this for about 5 months and it sure helps when I do not receive the paper bill in a timely fashion.

I believe you are charged a processing fee if you use your credit card to pay the bill, though I may be wrong.

[jojo]

Like Xavier, our VCDD utility bill is directly paid from our Citizens checking account.

[Yucatan2]

Originally Posted by kfierle

You can actually look up the amount of your bill online. I do this since it seems to take a very long time to receive the paper bill. It has arrived at my home in New York state the day before it was due. I now access it amount due online and pay it immediately. The paper bill usually arrives 7-10 days later. Just to clarify--I do not pay my bill through this site--I use the bill pay through my bank

Here is how to access the amount owed for the VCDD bill:

1. Go to districtgov.org
2. Scroll down the left side and click on PAY UTILITY BILL
3. Click on MUNICIPAY LLC ON-LINE PAYMENT SERVICE in the blue box in the middle of the page
4. Type in your account number and street address and click search

This will bring up the amount owed on the current bill. You do not have to pay your bill through this site.

I have been doing this for about 5 months and it sure helps when I do not receive the paper bill in a timely fashion.

I believe you are charged a processing fee if you use your credit card to pay the bill, though I may be wrong.

I just tried this, and signed up for an account to be able to see the bill, but nothing shows up. I have an outstanding bill so you would think it would be there????

[Yucatan2]

instead of Firefox, and then the amount showed up. It still would be nice to see the breakdown as well.........but at least we can get the amount due if we are somewhere we are not getting our mail! Thanks Kfierle!

[kfierle]

There is no need to sign up for an account or log in to see the balance due. Keep in mind that you will NOT see a copy of the bill, only the amount of the current bill. All you have to do is search by account number and address. The search is on the left side of this screen:

VCDD Bill

Let me know if this link does not work.

[kfierle]

Originally Posted by Yucatan2

instead of Firefox, and then the amount showed up. It still would be nice to see the breakdown as well.........but at least we can get the amount due if we are somewhere we are not getting our mail! Thanks Kfierle!

I use Firefox all the time and it works just fine for me. If you clear out your cookies and history, Firefox may work for you.

Glad I was able to help out!

[Paperboy]

I'm a snow flake & when I get the bill I transfer from my ING acct. the money due; I schedule a wk. prior to my Wis. checking acct. & when the bill is due they debit my CHECKING ACCT. Very simple.

[asianthree]

i have a control problem i pay everything thru my bank...no auto pays