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c4 1 T /4 c‘emaKhe <br />515 Little Canada Road, Little Canada, MN 55117 -1600 <br />(612) 484 -2177 / FAX: (612) 484 -4538 <br />MEMORANDUM <br />TO: Mayor Fahey & Members of the City Council <br />FROM: Joel Hanson, City Administrator <br />DATE: July 7, 1998 <br />RE: Utility Billing — Vacant Properties <br />MAYOR <br />Michael 1. Fahey <br />COUNCIL <br />Beverly Scalze <br />Jim LaValle <br />Steve Morelan <br />Bob Pedersen <br />ADMINISTRATOR <br />Joel R. Hanson <br />Over the years, an informal policy developed whereby as a service to the account holder, we <br />have not been billing vacant accounts sewer charges during the vacancy. Vacancies usually stem <br />from homes or businesses that are for sale, or residents who leave town for the winter (see <br />attached listing from lst quarter). Problems I see with this practice as follows: <br />♦ Some residents leave town for only one or two months. Therefore, their quarterly bill <br />still shows some water usage for the month(s) they were home. Sometimes their usage is <br />the same as a low usage resident who is home all quarter. It seems unfair to charge the <br />low user more for sewer than someone who has used the same amount of water during <br />the same time period even though they were gone for a portion of the quarter. <br />♦ Other account holders are subsidizing vacant accounts since the sewer rates are based on <br />all accounts being billed their share of the Met Council's charge for sewer processing. <br />This translates to our minimum bill charge. When we charge less than minimum even <br />though there is usage, other accounts pick up the difference. <br />♦ We bill sewer according to 1st quarter's water usage. Residents who leave town during <br />15t quarter have a very low water usage during that time. Therefore, they are only <br />charged the sewer minimum each quarter for the rest of the year ($37.50 per quarter). If <br />they were home during lst quarter, usage could be higher resulting in a higher than <br />minimum sewer bill each quarter. Thus, some accounts are receiving a benefit all year <br />long. <br />♦ We have not advertised this practice in our newsletter so that all residents or businesses <br />could take advantage of this credit. (Our Billing Department does not know which <br />buildings are vacant unless the owner calls to let us know.) <br />♦ Our Billing Department needs to manually adjust each vacant account two times to <br />provide the credit (one to lower the minimum amount and the second to re -set the <br />minimum default value). This is a time consuming process. <br />Page 23 <br />