Agenda Packets - 1983/03/28 - Laserfiche WebLink

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T'O: Mayor & Council FROM: Finance DiI-N-tor-Treasurer III, Utility Accounting Clerk Sandgren j DATE: March 31, 1983 RE: PROPOSED UTILITY OILL COLLECTION POLICIES As of March 23, 1983 the City was owed a total of $16,844.30 of delinquent utility bills. Of this amount $7,276.63 was payable from the fourth quarter 1982 billing which was due February 28, 1983 and $9,567.67 was payable from third quarter 1982 and earlier billings. At the present time the computer program for utility billings and collections does not identify on a per account basis the quarter (s) for which an account is delinquent. We are only able to determine if a particular account is delinquent for the current billing. If the account has a balance forward, that balance is from the previous quarter or quarters. During a review of the City's collection policies we found that the policies and procedures which have been followed for many years were not formally adopted by this Council or past Councils. We feel that it is in the best interests of the City and its utility customers to have a formally adopted collection policy. We have prepared a draft of a proposed policy for your consideration which is attached and includes samples of letters and notices sent to customers with delin- quent accounts. It is basically the policy which has been informally followed for many years. Past discussions with the City Attorney have indicated that in most instances it is not cost effective to pursue legal remedies to enforce collection of delinquent utility bills. The only cost effective methods left to us after gentle persuasion has failed are discontinuation of water service until the balance due has been paid and/or certification to the County for collection with tax bills the following year. We have made use of a promissory agreement whereby a customer would pay the delinquent balance due in installment payments. This has had only limited success. To illustrate: after notices were sent last fall to customers with delinquent accounts, eight promissory agreements were signed. At the present time three customers are fulfilling or have fulfilled their agreements. Discontinuation of service is a last resort after a customer has not responded to the current billing and a reminder letter. On the average we sent 200-250 reminder notices each quarter. After that we send a notice that the account is in danger of having service discontinued. This averages 75-125 notices each quarter. We then attempt to reach approximately 25-30 customers by phone to advise that they are in danger of having service discontinued due to non payment. Finally a certified letter is sent to approximately 12 customers advising that service will be discontinued on a specified date due to non payment.