In the nearly two months since Vicksburg sent corrected natural gas bills totaling $867,000 to three businesses, public schools and a church, the amount collected remains at about $1,000.

At least one of the business owners requested a meeting with city officials, but said he hasn’t heard a word. J.O. Smith III, president of Big River Shipbuilders, added he doesn’t plan to pay the $11,455 the city-owned utility says he owes due to incorrect billing by the city since 2007.

“I won’t pay it — not unless a judge makes me pay it,” Smith said. “I have paid them on time and in full every month since I’ve been in operation. So, for them to come back and say I owe them for mistakes they made three years ago — that’s ludicrous. That’s bad business.”

Mayor Paul Winfield said he has not spoken with Smith and would not discuss the possibility of taking legal action against any of the customers. The mayor said the city does not plan to shut off service to any of the undercharged customers if they are working with the city to resolve the matter.

“We’re expecting payment,” Winfield said. “The bottom line of this whole thing is we’re not trying to hurt anybody in the city, but we do have a responsibility to the citizens to recover this money. This thing is going to work itself out, but I expect our customers to work with us.”

The incorrect billing was attributed to the installation of multiplier meters for some commercial customers in recent years. Billing computers were not reprogrammed for the change, meaning the five customers were charged only 10 percent of the actual amount due each month.

The largest of the bills, for $751,107, was sent to Rainbow Casino for bills dating from December 2005 to May — the same month Isle of Capri Casinos closed on its purchase of Rainbow from Bally Technologies for about $80 million.

The new owners say they have no liability for the charges. Bally said it has the bill under advisement.

“All I can say at this point is we’ve met with the city and we’ve requested additional information from them,” said Laura Olson-Reyes, Bally’s director of corporate communications.

Baton Rouge-based One Source Systems, which operates on Haining Road and received the lowest of the five undercharge bills, paid its $1,027.53 invoice in full after receiving the bill.

The Vicksburg Warren School District was billed $88,109.

Interim Superintendent Donald Oakes has said school board attorney Briggs Hopson III and an independent utilities analyst were looking at the bills and meters to confirm the district was undercharged. The school board on July 29 authorized Hopson to begin negotiations with the city. It’s likely Dr. Elizabeth Duran Swinford, who was tapped as the new superintendent also on July 29, will inherit the issue.

First Baptist Church on Cherry Street received a bill for $15,387, but has not returned calls.

About 30 of the city’s 792 commercial customers have multiplier meters. Despite the underbilling, city officials insist other customers, including homeowners, were not tapped for the billing shortfall.

Instead, they have said the money was subsidized by a fund set aside for future improvements of the gas system work.

Winfield, who took office in July 2009, said no employees in the water and gas administration have been found at fault and he does not expect any disciplinary action.

“I don’t see anything like that happening,” he said. “I’m more concerned with getting the public’s money back. That’s my ultimate goal.”