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Published Wednesday, December 29, 1999

Computer sends out sewer bills dated ' 1899' ' by mistake

Statewire

CALEDONIA, Wis. (AP) -- Town residents got sewer bills dated 1899 instead of 1999, but officials insist the computerized billing problem has nothing to do with the so-called Y2K bug.

" We fixed the problem three minutes after the bills went out, " Finance Director Larry Borchert said. " It wasn' t Y2K."

The 1, 500 sewer bills with an 1899 billing date were sent to Caledonia residents who pay the town for sewer service but not for water.

Borchert said the error was made because the space for the date was left blank in the town' s computer, and the blank date led the computer to backtrack all the way to 1899. Caledonia' s billing software was purchased in June and thus should be immune from Y2K problems.

The glitch, officials said, has been fixed and won' t be repeated.

Borchert said the mistake could have happened before any New Year' s Eve, and it was only coincidence that it happened just before the arrival of the year 2000 -- a changeover that some say could cause computers to mistake the new year for 1900, resulting in malfunctions .

Despite the billing date error on 1, 500 bills, the due dates on the bills were all correct, Borchert noted.

John W. Smith, information systems manager, offered assurances that the town is ready for New Year' s Eve.

" We are Y2K compliant, " Smith said. " We identified all areas within the town that were not Y2K compliant. We addressed those areas and we bought the necessary equipment."

For example, the town replaced five aging computers in its police department.

" We don' t feel there' s going to be a problem, " said Ronald Coutts, a town supervisor who served on a Y2K readiness committee. " I don' t think the citizens in Caledonia have to worry."

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), December 29, 1999

Answers

um....Caledonia is a veeeeeeeeeeeeeery small town. They probably only have one computer. I like how they always say it is not a Y2K problem. What a bunch of assholes.

-- (Here@today.com), December 29, 1999.

Damn sunspots!

-- Ludi (ludi@rollin.com), December 29, 1999.