Woman pays $493 water bill in pennies in protest at high prices
Staff took more than three hours to count all the coins
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Your support makes all the difference.A woman used pennies to pay her water bill of almost $500 (£358) to protest about rising costs.
Dana McCool shared a Facebook Live video of her walking into the water department in her home city of Deltona, Florida, where she paid up with 49,000, 1 cent coins.
It reportedly took staff more than three hours to count them all.
Ms McCool said she decided to perform the “peaceful protest” against the utility firm over the $493 (£358) bill in the wake of problems she encountered in 2016 when she got several bills as high as $700 (£509) for about six months.
The average bill is around $40 (£29).
Ms McCool said that when she asked why the cost of her bill was so hefty city officials informed her that she had a water leak in her home. In her video, she claimed that many other residents have been unjustly fined for this issue.
Deltona Water compensated Ms McCool for nearly $1,000 (£727) after a leak in her irrigation system was discovered.
Despite this, Ms McCool said she still has to make back payments and other fees, explaining why her latest bill is so high.
In the seven-minute clip, Ms McCool describes her decision to pay off the bill in pennies as a “peaceful form of protest over some water bills that I did not owe.
"A majority of the people I have spoken to say the same thing has happened.”
She added: “I just hope that other people examine their water bills and know that they are not alone.”
She said the employees who were forced to go through the slow and painstaking process of counting out the pennies were “kind” about having to do so.
”They’re professional, upfront…it’s not [about] them it’s their bosses in the back,” she said.
Ms McCool decided to film the video after becoming progressively angry about the amount of money she was being asked to fork out from the company.
City of Deltona officials said that if customers have concerns with their high bills they can work in conjunction with the city to check for leaks.
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