City of Lincoln to begin collections on delinquent sewer bills

 

[October 29, 2020] 

On Friday, October 30th, the Lincoln City Clerk’s office will be mailing the November sewer bills. For approximately 110 delinquent accounts, the bill will include a letter from the city of Lincoln. The letter will deliver an ultimatum to all those delinquent accounts – pay your bill, make arrangements for a payment plan to bring your account current, or face shut off.

Delinquent accounts will have until November 16th to respond to the letter. If no payment plan is established and the debt remains unpaid at the November 20th due date, the clerk will issue shut off orders to Illinois American Water and that company will start shut off procedures for the water accounts associated with the sewer debt.

Soon after the coronavirus became prevalent in Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker issued a state wide shut down of all not essential business and industry. This resulted in immediate lay-offs and loss of income for workers state-wide. The impact of that order was felt in Lincoln and Logan County.

To address the hardships of those non-essential workers, the governor soon issued a moratorium on evictions and shut offs, giving furloughed employees peace of mind that they could not lose their home or essential utilities due to lack of payment while laid off.

The moratorium was allowed to expire in September.

At the October 13th meeting of the Lincoln City Council the renewed permission to issue shut off notices for delinquent accounts was discussed.

Kevin Bateman noted on this date there were more than 115 delinquent sewer accounts on the city’s books. However, 85 of those accounts were delinquent before the corona virus. He felt that those accounts especially had used COVID-19 as an excuse to not pay knowing they would not be punished for it.

Bateman said he sympathized with those who had faced hardship because of the virus, but felt no mercy toward those who had used the virus as an excuse to neglect their responsibilities.

During that meeting, aldermen talked about the hefty late fees that are accessed to the accounts each month, and agreed that for those who were willing to establish a payment plan there could be a waiver or forgiveness of those late fees, if the customer established a payment plan and stuck with it. The aldermen also thought that there should be a deadline set on when to have those bills paid in full. They decided that setting up the payment plans with a goal of having everything brought to current by March of 2021 would be advisable.

The group also discussed how much work they would be making for the clerk’s office if they allowed late fees to be written off. What would the process be, would the city remove the late fees at the beginning of the agreement or the end? City Clerk Peggy Bateman said that her office was prepared to do the work and would do “whatever it takes to get the bills paid.”

The city has a secondary concern regarding these delinquent accounts. Because of the state mandated upgrades that are underway at the city’s waste treatment plant, the city has some large investments and debt that must be paid by the revenues of the sewer department.

The city sewer rates have been raised the last two years as part of the plan to create the revenue needed for the sewer upgrades. A third, optional raise is on the horizon. The city was to work with Crawford, Murphy & Tilly, the engineers overseeing the project, to determine if enough revenue is being generated to forego the final rate increase. The delinquent accounts now are impacting the city’s cash flow and thus its ability to pay its debts. When looking at the need for another rate increase, the delinquent accounts will influence that decision.

Aldermen decided that they would take a two stage approach to the situation. First they would ask that all accounts that were delinquent on March 31, 2020 (before COVID restrictions) pay the balance on the account on that date in full within 90 days. The city would then offer a payment plan for the balance accrued after March 31st to current.

A second letter would then go out letting customers know that they had to set up a payment plan with intent to bring their account current by March 31st, 2021 or face possible shut off.

In that second letter, it stated, “On October 1, 2020, the city of Lincoln was able to reinstate water shut off requests, but will not send requests at this time. Should the council decide to move forward with water shut off requests, your account will be on the list to send to (Illinois American Water Company) to begin shut off procedures.”

Drafted documents for the two-step plan were included in the agenda packet at the October 19th voting session.

However, aldermen decided to delete the 90-day warning letter from the plan and move forward immediately with the second letter.

They also decided that the section stating that the city is not at this time going to implement shut-offs be removed, and that the city reinstate its shut off policy immediately.

Kevin Bateman recommended the changes saying that as of that moment there 109 delinquent accounts and that 79 of those accounts were delinquent prior to the coronavirus. He noted that one residential property account owes more than $4,000 and one business account owes more than $3,000. He said these were people who were using covid as an excuse and that was unacceptable.

He said he felt that those who are truly in hardship will appreciate the opportunity to make a plan and have late fees waived, and they will respond to the city’s offer. For those who don’t, he said that they wouldn’t pay anyway and immediate shut off is going to be the best way to get through to them that they need to get current.

Aldermen agreed, and approved the revisions with a unanimous 8-0 vote.

This week, City Clerk Peggy Bateman provided a copy of the letter that will be included in the delinquent bills the end of this week.

The letter states:

“On October 1, 2020, the City of Lincoln was able to reinstate water shut off requests, but did not send requests in October. The council has decided to move forward with water shut off requests and your account will be on the list to send to ILAWC to begin shut off procedures.
 

“We have provided a payment arrangement form for you to view. If you would like to setup a payment plan the city would stop all additional late fees as long as you adhere to the payment plan which must be approved by November 16, 2020. If you do not follow through with the signed agreement the city will add late fees on to your account from the time you signed the agreement. Your account needs to be paid in full no later than March 31, 2021.”

During the meeting on the 19th it was also suggested that the Clerk’s office be allowed some discretion in the terms of the agreement. It was noted that even those who sign the agreement may struggle to comply. It was suggested that the clerk’s office could use their own judgment, if a customer is trying to comply but struggling, the clerk’s office will continue to work with that customer to get the balance paid, while avoiding shut off.

In the end, the key to keeping the water turned on will be working toward paying the debt, and open communication with the clerk’s office if the burden of the payment agreement becomes too heavy.

[Nila Smith]