City gets tougher on late payments
Published 10:53 am Thursday, December 11, 2008
By Kevin Hanson-The Courier-Herald
Members of the Enumclaw City Council voted to increase rates for garbage collection last week and also made things tougher for customers who might not be able to pay their utility bills in a timely fashion.
After increasing rates for trash collection, which includes the curbside recycling program and disposal of yard waste, the council followed a staff recommendation and shortened the time before an account is considered delinquent.
Until now, city customers have had a 30-day grace period. With the council's vote last week, that window of opportunity was shortened to 15 days.
Finance Director Gary Smalling said the move will benefit the city because it will speed up collections by two weeks, reduce losses subsidized by non-delinquent customers, allow for the posting of all information on invoices and balance the work load of city staff.
According to Smalling, the city now has 6,002 utility customers. Typically, about 300 accounts are in a “delinquent” status, he said, adding about 30 per month are slated to be disconnected.
The city's new monthly billing cycle looks like this:
€ customers receive bills about the fourth day of the month;
€ bills are due by the 18th;
€ on the 19th, unpaid bills are considered delinquent, a $3 late fee is assessed and a 10-day grace period begins;
€ the final day to make a payment without receiving a shutoff notice is the 28th.
€ on the 29th, shutoff notices are mailed, a $20 charge is applied to the account and customers have 10 days to pay;
€ on the fourth day of the following month, delinquent customers will receive another bill, complete with new charges and late fees and shutoff charges for the past month's bill; and
€ finally, on the 10th day of the month, if past-due charges are not paid, the city will disconnect services.
Moments before tightening the payment schedule, council members had increased the rate for garbage collections by 4 percent, a move that takes effect Jan. 1. A year ago, the council had bumped the rate by 12.5 percent.
Several factors were cited in defense for the rate increase. Personnel costs are expected to climb 7 percent this year; the city is still paying for the transition to all-in-one recycling carts; and the cost of replacing garbage trucks is increasing (the city plans on buying two new trucks in 2007).
The city's new rates will look like this:
Those paying the “mini can” rate will see an increase of 51 cents monthly, from $12.83 to $13.34.
Single can, from $16.68 to $17.35.
Two cans, from $26.59 to $27.65.
Dumpster, from $93.63 to $97.38.
Yard waste, from $7.75 to $8.06.
