 That's what Alderwoman Melody Anderson said in response to a request
to place a motion on next week's agenda to hire a collection agency
to try to resolve some of the city's nearly $250,000 in unpaid sewer
bills.She reasoned that the collection agency would take 30
percent of what they collected. The highest delinquent account
holder is a landlord with multiple properties and a total debt to
the city of nearly $12,000. She reasoned that the city could do
quite a bit of digging for one-third of that amount.
She went on to say: "I think what will happen when we put that
notice on, they will come in and pay. The smaller ones -- let it go;
send them off (to collections). The bigger ones -- dig them up. It
is time we start putting some bite into all this yakking we're
doing."
Alderman Jeff Hoinacki brought back the problem of the highest
bill being a landlord, and the digging would affect the tenants who
are not responsible for the delinquency.
Alderwoman Stacey Bacon responded by saying, "Dig his up."
As discussions ensued, Bacon also commented: "I've been on the
council a little over 21 months and we've been talking about this
since I've been here, and personally, I'm tired of talking about. I
think we need to do a collection agency, get it moving, at least get
some of our money recouped. Sitting here talking about it week after
week, we're not going anywhere."
Bacon went on to say that she didn't believe threatening to dig
up a sewer line would do any good at all. She said she didn't
believe any of these delinquent accounts would care whether or not
there was a backhoe parked in front of their house or even in their
front yard.
Police Chief Ken Greenslate weighed in, saying he'd personally
been in homes where sewer service had been shut off.
He said: "People do find alternatives and they aren't pleasant.
And it causes bigger problems for my partner over here (John Lebegue
of building and safety). I've been in those houses and I just can't
describe it."
Hoinacki reminded the council that the sewer system in the city
is old and fragile in most parts of the town. He recalled a time
when a small dig at Union and Clinton streets turned into a full
block of crumbled sewer line, which ended up costing the city a
great deal of money.
Waste treatment manager Bob Tackett talked about the sewer lines
being combined, with sometimes two houses on one tap. He noted that
if the sewer is dug up and plugged at the main line, there is a
possibility that two sewers would be shut off and that one of those
would be to a home where bills are being paid regularly.
Tackett also noted that in the case of the unnamed landlord being
discussed, he has two properties that have account balances of about
$3,500 and a couple more with balances of only $500.
He said it appeared that the landlord was in arrears on the two
properties when he took over the taps on two more. He suggested that
in the future, anyone with a delinquent account not be permitted to
have additional taps in their name.
Alderman Buzz Busby commented on the recent vetoing of a motion
to use Illinois American to shut off water to homes with delinquent
sewer payments. He said the council had voted the motion down
because of liability issues, but there was another option.
The city could turn the sewer billing over to Illinois American.
Then the company would have to collect the money and could turn off
water as they saw fit, with no consequences to the city.
However, city attorney Bill Bates said he didn't believe the
water company would take over the delinquent bills, so it wouldn't
really solve the immediate problem.
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As the discussion made its way back to the use of a collection
agency, it was discussed what kind of guidelines the agency would be
given.
Would they base their collections on dollar figures or the age of
the accounts, and who in the city would be involved in choosing
which accounts to go after?
Bates said that aging might be the best, and Anderson reminded
everyone that the city bills on a 120-day cycle, which would need to
be taken into consideration when basing collections on aging.
Chuck Conzo, city treasurer, also said that the city should look
at the delinquents and consider who will eventually pay on their
own. He noted that slow accounts that are still collected over time
should not be given to a collection agency for them to keep a third
of the balance.
The discussion came to a close, but at the end of the evening
Bates brought it up again one last time.
He read the following excerpt from city code 7-8-1-14:
METHOD OF PAYMENT:
The owner of the premises, the occupant or the user of the sewerage
system shall be jointly and severally liable to pay for the service
on the premises, and the service is furnished to premises by the
city only upon the condition that the owner of the premises, the
occupant or the user of the service are jointly and severally liable
for the payment of all charges to the city.
Bates said it had always been his understanding that a landlord
is solely responsible. However, with the way the code is written,
the occupant has joint responsibility for the bill.
He noted that one big obstacle would be determining who the
occupant is. He said he and Lebegue have struggled with this on
other matters, and it is sometimes very difficult to get that
information. Plus, the city would have to determine how long the
tenant had been in the residence and whether or not they were
responsible for the entire bill or a portion of it.
As it stands now, there will be no motions to approve sewer
disconnects, and the city will vote Monday night on hiring Midwest
Credit Collections of Decatur to take over some of the older
balances. Midwest will keep about one-third of what they collect.
[By NILA SMITH]
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