Marion looking to tweak policy at Water Department

Marion looking to tweak policy at Water Department

Higher deposits, shorter cutoff window on the table

news@theeveningtimes.com

Marion may increase the amount required for a deposit on new water hookups and is also looking at revising its cutoff policy.

Mayor Frank Fogleman said the current $100 deposit is not covering the amount owed when they have to cut off an account for non-payment.

“Things have evolved to where the deposits we get are no longer covering when people don’t pay their bills,” Fogleman said.

Fogleman said it can also take up to two months before the city actually cuts off service for non-payment.

The water and sewer committee will study what the best option is — whether to raise the deposit, shorten the amount of time before the city cuts off an account for non-payment, or a combination of the two.

“We’re going to check with other communities to see what their policy is,” Fogleman said. “That way we aren’t stuck with as much unpaid water bills to have to write off.”

Councilman Jim Spence, who chairs the committee, said he agrees that they need to revise their policy.

“We need to shorten that cut off time,” Spence said.

“Two months is just way too long. But we haven’t decided on a time to cut off — maybe 30 days.”

The water and sewer committee also discussed several complaints the city has received from water customers who were hit with a late fee on their bill but paid through a bill payment service.

Water bills are due on the 10th of each month after which the city assesses a late fee.

Fogleman said the committee didn’t take any action, however the consensus is that it is the customer’s responsibility to make sure the bill gets paid on time.

“The customer’s position is that it isn’t their fault, that the bank or payment service or combination of the two didn’t get it done quick enough,” Fogleman said. “We discussed what we wanted to do, but there wasn’t much sympathy for that because it is on the individual. They need to take it up with the bank or the bill pay service they are using.”

By Mark Randall