City of Odessa Billing and Collection Dept. Shuts Down For System Updates

Putting in a new billing system is never easy and it can cause some problems while it is being installed, but once the new billing system gets installed for the city of Odessa the minor problems will be well worth it.

According to NewsWest 9, the director of the billing and collection department, Agapito Bernal, says the closure is necessary to get the new system installed.

“Our new billing system is going to be put into effect which includes a new payment system, an updated reading system, and will be able to communicate seamlessly with our finance department,” said Bernal.

One major change for residents to look for is a different type of bill you receive in the mail.

"They’ll have an 8 1/2 x 11 page versus our postcard and we won’t be sending out any more delinquent notices and everything will be encompassed in that one page," said Bernal.

The next phase of the update will make the payment system a lot more secure.

"Our payment system is gonna be a little bit more robust. In addition, it’ll be more secure, that’s one of the concerns that we had with the old system. The security wasn’t quite there," said Bernal.

No payments will be taken during the update and residents should have been notified how to pay.

"We’ve created a question within the scheduling so everybody’s gonna be billed before and then everybody’s going to be billed afterwards so we’ve been preparing for it," says Bernal.

The closing of the billing department for the update will last until November 2, 2021 but if you have an emergency during the update you can contact them at 432-335-3200.