The city water department spent $1.8 million more on its “smart meter” program between 2012 and 2015 than the City Council had approved. The kicker? The money went to buy meters from a company that has since told the city and investors about problems with its equipment. In the earliest days of the city’s “smart meter” program, the City Council gave water department officials approval to buy $2.1 million worth of new meters from one company over three years. In the first year of the contract, the water department spent $3 million. Over the next two years it spent another $1 million.