SAUGUS — Residents Deborah and Michael Fauci asked the Board of Selectmen for answers about recent water bills totaling more than $15,000 during Tuesday night’s meeting.

The couple noted that they own two properties in town, one at 1210 Sheffield Way and another at 190 Essex St.

“I’m standing here tonight with three water bills totaling over $15,000, and I’m demanding answers regarding unacceptable delays in resolving our disputed water and sewer bills,” Deborah Fauci said.

The Faucis are not the only residents who have raised concerns about spikes in their water bills, with many residents going to Facebook looking for answers.

“The town administration had stated months ago that it was launching a comprehensive review using an outside auditing firm to investigate these massive billing spikes, yet weeks have turned into months, and residents are left completely in the dark. We have zero formal feedback, zero data, and zero transparent findings,” Deborah Fauci said.

She said the delays are creating financial hardships for residents and that a wall has been hit while filing abatements.

“The official Saugus abatement form states that the town has 90 days to act, or the application is legally deemed denied. The slow turnaround time is forcing residents into structural traps. It’s an administrative bottleneck,” she said.

Deborah Fauci said the bills are matching or exceeding monthly mortgage payments.

“This is a severe financial crisis for our working families and for our seniors on fixed incomes. Furthermore, the town’s practice of issuing property liens or pulling funds for mortgage escrows for disputed bills before a full investigation is completed is unjust and unacceptable,” she said.

Deborah Fauci asked that Town Manager Scott Crabtree mandate an immediate interim update on the third-party water billing audit and fast-track all pending abatements.

Michael Fauci said both properties had almost identical water usage, yet one property received a bill for $539 while the other was $2,800.

Board Vice Chair Anthony Cogliano said he brought the water bill issue up on March 24, looking for guidance, and didn’t receive any answers. He filed for abatements on four properties and heard nothing back.

“The last time I brought this issue up with the Board and with our town clerk, she said there were only 15 people who filed for an abatement. So I guess my frustration is if there’s only 15 people in the town that filed for an abatement, I’m four of them, and I haven’t got a call yet,” he said.

Cogliano said he received a call from a resident with a bill totaling $192,000.

“It went from $325 to $192,000. That’s impossible. I don’t care if there’s a leak. Unless it’s flowing down the street, $192,000 is totally out of whack,” Cogliano said.

He said he wasn’t trying to single anyone out, but that if people have to wait a year to find out there is a problem on their property, it is negligence on the town’s part.

“Quarterly is better than twice a year, and in my honest opinion, I think we should have monthly water bills,” he said.

Deborah Fauci said the first abatement she filled out was back in March.

“I haven’t heard anything. I also filled out a second abatement, and I’m still waiting,” she said. “… I’ve got $15,000 worth of water bills here. That’s absurd.”

Crabtree said he would do a follow-up and that the last update was that there were 14 or 15 abatements filed and that property inspections were occurring a few weeks ago.

“Part of the process is they go out and look at how many fixtures you have, if you have a sprinkler system, check to see if there’s leaks … and then they report that back to the treasurer/collector’s office,” he said, continuing that he would have a meeting about it on Wednesday.

Cogliano said even with his construction experience, he isn’t sure how someone can go into a home 14 months after a bill came out and try to look for how the bill “got out of whack.”

Crabtree said that part of the inspection is trying to determine how many people are living in the house, if there is a pool, the number of bathrooms, and the number of kitchens, among other things.

“There’s industry standards that you can put into a system that will say what the average range should be for water use,” he said. “… I think that’s what the purpose is.”

Crabtree said the new monitoring system allows residents to watch for spikes on a daily basis.

Selectman Jeff Cicolini asked if the Faucis had switched to the new meters on all the properties, noting that Cogliano’s issues happened with old meters.

Michael Fauci said that the large bills for Sheffield Way occurred with the old meter and that the new meter at Essex Street looked normal; however, they had seen an 800-gallon spike on the new meter on Tuesday, despite no changes in usage.

Cicolini asked whether, while the investigation is occurring, there could be a way for the Faucis to pay a reasonable amount by looking at prior usage, and Selectman Frank Federico asked for a similar solution.

“I don’t think it’s fair for the town to be asking for the full sum until we resolve the issue,” Federico said.

Crabtree said he would have to speak to town counsel to see what could be done, as it was a legal issue.

Cicolini said that it was found that the old meters were slow, and that the new meters would most likely register higher, though it shouldn’t be hundreds of gallons more.

“For us, I want to make sure we got it right. I know that (Treasure/Collector) Wendy (Hatch) is on it, but she’s one person. And I know the outside audit, we really can’t force them to speed it up. I would be much more comfortable if (Town Counsel) John (Vasapolli) says that this is a plan we could put in place, suspend that revenue … make sure we’ve got all our ducks in a row. If the residents agree and we agree that the money is owed, fine. Or, a portion of the money is owed,” Cicolini said.

Crabtree said they have to figure out who has the authority to do that and that they have to figure out what the issue is on a grander scale. He asked that the Faucis send a picture of the meter so that they could look at it, and Michael Fauci agreed to come in with a photo.

Board Chair Debra Panetta said they would follow up with town counsel to see what they could do.