Utility Shutoffs
Kassandra Raymond
Hello, I’m interested in hearing from other municipalities who have resumed utility (water) shutoffs. We’re resuming disconnections in February 2022, and despite a robust messaging program, still have a substantial list of delinquent accounts, with a fair number of accounts with significant balances.
If you’re restarted your shutoffs, how many were on your most recent shutoff list, out of how many active accounts?
What programs are you offering for delinquent customers? We’re offering an extended payment plan and referral to community resources.
We’ll be updating our Council on the impending shutoffs and would be interested in how other cities are doing for context.
Thank you,
Kassandra Raymond | Chief Financial Officer
City of Sumner
1104 Maple Street
Sumner, WA 98390
Phone: 253-299-5541
þ Before printing, please think green.
Advisory: Please be advised the City of Sumner is required to comply with the Public Records Act, Chapter 42.56 RCW. This act establishes a strong state mandate in favor of disclosure of public records. Therefore, the information you submit to the City via email, including personal information, may ultimately be subject to disclosure as a public record.
Michael Olson
At this time, shut-offs for Kirkland is not resuming until the billings that happen in April (so late May/June shut-off).
Michael Olson
Director of Finance and Administration
City of Kirkland
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Washington Cities Finance Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to
wcfd+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/wcfd/CO6PR09MB863008E30E7D5099B758455EAE229%40CO6PR09MB8630.namprd09.prod.outlook.com.
NOTICE: This e-mail account is part of the public domain. Any correspondence and attachments, including personal information, sent to and from the City of Kirkland are subject to the Washington State Public Records Act, Chapter 42.56 RCW, and may be subject to disclosure to a third party requestor, regardless of any claim of confidentiality or privilege asserted by an external party.
Debbie Booher
City of Poulsbo has restarted shutoffs and penalties as of November. We did offer a payment plan and the opportunity to apply for grants to assist customers. We only had 2 applicants for the assistance although many have reached out to local agencies offering rental and utility assistance. Since all firms are backed up, as long as customers could show they are in the process to receive assistance we do not issue penalties or shutoffs. We check every month with the agencies to confirm they are still in the process. What is also helpful is we used ARPA funds to hire additional staff to support the payment and shut off plan administration. This position was a long time coming with our growing customer base.
Prior to shutoff we did send letters to past due residences and we worked closely with our Public Works Department to issue door knockers for two months prior to shut off letting customers know they would be shut off and providing a list of resources available for assistance if it was not resolved prior to the actual shut off date.
More work, but it has paid off as very few actually did get shut off.
Good luck. Lots of work but with the delay of penalties and shut offs, many customers we would have been able to lien in the past is limited.
Deborah Booher| Finance Director | City of Poulsbo | 200 NE Moe Street | Poulsbo, WA 98370 |
Ph: 360-394-9720 | Fax: 360-779-5112 | Web:
www.cityofpoulsbo.com |
Email: dbo...@cityofpoulsbo.com
From: wc...@googlegroups.com <wc...@googlegroups.com>
On Behalf Of Kassandra Raymond
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2022 9:19 AM
To: wc...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [wcfd] Utility Shutoffs
CAUTION: This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution when opening attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown senders.
--
Jerica Pascoe
City of Ellensburg offered its customers 60 days to sign payment plans with 6 months to pay off their past due balances. We only had approximately 50 customers sign and return the payment plan out of approximately 1,700 past due accounts. Throughout the pandemic, Finance staff made contact, or attempted to make contact with customers multiple times in a variety of ways (emails, phone call, multiple mailings, messages printed on bills). In January we brought a resolution to council temporarily amending out utility account collection process for past due customers. This resolution allowed to send collection notices instead of disconnect notices to past due customers. We will be sending all accounts that were past due at the end of September (who do not have a signed payment agreement with us), to collection instead of disconnecting.
From: wc...@googlegroups.com <wc...@googlegroups.com>
On Behalf Of Kassandra Raymond
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2022 9:19 AM
To: wc...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Ext] [wcfd] Utility Shutoffs
|
CAUTION - EXTERNAL EMAIL: The email below is from an external source. Please exercise caution before opening attachments, clicking links, fulfilling requests, or following guidance. |
--
Brad Posenjak
Kassandra,
The City of Wenatchee resumed water shutoff in October. We sent notices to our delinquent customers telling them their water would be shutoff on a particular date. Our local Community Action Council was administering a utility assistance program and we referred customers to them. We also allowed payment plans and have a handful of customers who took advantage of that. By the time shutoff day arrived, it looked like a typical pre-pandemic water shutoff day. Most customers figured out a way to pay their bill, or line up an assistance program. We had a lot of phone calls and payments for a couple weeks, but it was much less painful than we anticipated.
We had also tried contacting customers throughout the pandemic to remind them that their balances were growing, but many of them simply blocked the City’s phone number. Shutoff was our only way to prompt a conversation.
We shutoff water in October and November. Then it got very cold and the snow hit. We currently have a foot of snow and ice sitting on many of the water valve chambers, so we probably won’t go back to shutting off until March. Customer balances are growing again and we hope the assistance programs will still be available to them in March (some assistance was one-time balance payoff).
I hope your shutoff process was as easy as ours was. It seems like most customers were able to come up with the funds when they needed to.
Thanks,
Brad Posenjak
Finance Director
301 Yakima Street, 3rd Floor • PO Box 519 • Wenatchee, WA 98807-0519
Office: (509) 888-3610 • Email: bpos...@wenatcheewa.gov
From: wc...@googlegroups.com <wc...@googlegroups.com>
On Behalf Of Kassandra Raymond
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2022 9:19 AM
To: wc...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [wcfd] Utility Shutoffs
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the City of Wenatchee. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
--
Cindy Niemeier
The City of Cheney has resumed both penalties and shut offs for electric and water. We contracted with a local agency for utility assistance and marketed that for several months this fall and also designated a chunk of ARPA funds for utility assistance Unfortunately, only about 1/3 of the allocated funds were applied for and used. We also offered 12 month payment plans and have other outside agencies that provide utility help as well. It has not been easy due the 19 month hold cycle on penalties and shut offs
We have now had 3 disconnect cycles. First shut off was large – 3 times the normal number of approx. 40. 2nd shut off was back to the norm, and third was slightly elevated. We are also a college town so we have a large rental number – most of the shut offs are rentals. It is a retraining process with our customers at this point.
From: wc...@googlegroups.com <wc...@googlegroups.com>
On Behalf Of Kassandra Raymond
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2022 9:19 AM
To: wc...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [wcfd] Utility Shutoffs
Warning - External Sender
This message originated outside of the City of Cheney. Use caution when opening links or attachments.
--
Cherie Reierson
Hi Kassandra,
We resumed shut offs in January. We have about 14k customers. We sent out monthly reminder notices during COVID. We sent out 1100 late notices prior to door hangers. On door hanger day, we had about 350 notices (yes, we still do door hangers per Council).
This generated a lot of foot and phone traffic. On shut off day we had about 85 people to shut off. The next day, about half of them were still shut off (not made payment).
We have allowed for payment arrangements; we had a grant program during early pandemic and we have the same referral to community resources.
Thanks,
Cherie
From: wc...@googlegroups.com <wc...@googlegroups.com>
On Behalf Of Kassandra Raymond
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2022 9:19 AM
To: wc...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [wcfd] Utility Shutoffs
Hello, I’m interested in hearing from other municipalities who have resumed utility (water) shutoffs. We’re resuming disconnections in February 2022, and despite a robust messaging program, still have a substantial list of delinquent accounts, with a fair number of accounts with significant balances.
--
Maureen Schols
City of Bothell
Please note: Email exchanges may be public records and subject to disclosure.
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2022 9:37 AM
To: 'Kassandra Raymond' <kassa...@sumnerwa.gov>; 'wc...@googlegroups.com' <wc...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [wcfd] RE: Utility Shutoffs
Nora Mitchell
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2022 7:33 AM
To: wc...@googlegroups.com <wc...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] [wcfd] RE: Utility Shutoffs
CAUTION: External Email