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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4098 Ordinance ORDINANCE NO. q0q$ AN ORDINANCE of the City of Pasco, Washington, adding and revising City procedures for utility billing with amendments to Title 3 "Revenue and Finance." WHEREAS, the City wishes to further clarify certain rights and responsibilities relating to the administration of utility billing and account management,NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PASCO, WASHINGTON, DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. That Section 3.200.030 entitled "Acceptance of Contract" of the Pasco Municipal Code, shall be and hereby is amended to read as follows: 3.200.030 CONTRACT ACCEPTANCE, DENIAL AND TERMINATION.—OF CONTRACT. A) If utility service is provided as a result of an application being accepted, the application shall be considered a contract in which the applicant agrees to abide by such rates, rules and regulations as are in effect at the time of signing the application, or as may be adopted or modified thereafter by the City, and to pay all bills promptly. B) Payments received to the City for utility services shall be applied against outstanding utility charges in the following order: 1) Late fees. 2) Unpaid utility accounts commencing with application of the oldest balances due to the newest and most current charges. 3) Payments shall be applied to accounts sharing the same due date in the following order: a) Ambulance utility service fee. b) Stormwater utility fee. c) Irrigation d) Water e) Sewer An application for service and creation of a tenant account may be denied for any customer that has an outstanding balance on another City account unless the only amount outstanding is what would be created by a pending final bill. Application for service may be denied for a customer if the customer has another account that was previously closed at the same location. D) There shall be an on-going contract for utility service with the owner as long as the property is owned except for any periods during which a tenant account exists. It shall be the owner's responsibility to notify the City utility billing office of the owner authorized start date and termination date of tenant accounts. A tenant account will be closed when notification is received from either the tenant or the owner. Section 2. That Section 3.200.080 entitled "Delinquency" of the Pasco Municipal Code, shall be and hereby is amended to read as follows: 3.200.080 DELINQUENCY. A) All utility charges shall be due immediately upon billing and become delinquent if not paid in full twenty days after the date of billing. Late fees, penalty fees and collections fees are considered delinquent when assessed. B) Notice of delinquency shall be sent on the subsequent monthly bill informing the customer that a late pay penalty fee has been added and if payment for all delinquent charges is not received by the date, time and location listed on the notice additional fees will be incurred and water service may be stopped without further notice. A copy of the delinquent bill will also be sent to the owner for all delinquent tenant accounts. Delinquent charges for which payment has not been received by ten days past the subsequent monthly bill date shall be sent a phone notification to the customer's designated local phone number on file stating the date and time by which payment must be received in order to be excluded from the disconnect collection process. Delinquent charges for which payment has not been received by twelve days past the subsequent monthly bill date shall be subject to disconnection of water service until payment has been received for all delinquent charges unless the manager and the customer establish a written and signed payment arrangement to provide for payment of all charges billed and expected to be billed by the last payment date of the arrangement. Payment arrangements are not automatic and are to be based on a written policy established by the City Manager and administered by the manager. Failure to adhere to the written arrangement will result in additional fees as specified in Chapter 3.07 and disconnection of water service without further notice. If an account is processed through the disconnect collection process for two consecutive months or any three times within the last twelve months, the manager may require payment for all current as well as delinquent charges be received prior to reconnecting water service. C) A separate delinquent notice, in addition to the notice pursuant to paragraph (B) shall be delivered to the service location of multi-family properties at least seven days prior to scheduled disconnection of service to provide tenants the opportunity to contact the landlord or to arrange payment prior to the disconnection of service. D) In the event of a turn-off for non-payment of a delinquent account, the water shall remain turned off until the delinquency and all resulting charges are paid in full unless: for service is accepted; provided, that the subsequent applicant and any other person residing on or using the property is not liable for any utility charges owing on the 1) The manager and the customer establish a written and signed payment arrangement pursuant to the payment arrangement policy referred to in 3.200.080(B) above. Failure to adhere to the written arrangement will result in additional fees as specified in Chapter 3.07 and disconnection of water service without further notice; or 2) The account is a tenant account with a city water service connection. For such an account, if service to the property is not restored within two business days, then on the third business day notice of the city's intent to terminate the tenant account will be sent to the owner. If service is not restored by the eighth business day and no notification to close the tenant account for an earlier effective date has been received, then the City shall close the tenant account, the deposit applied and any remaining deposit will be refunded to the customer. If the deposit is not sufficient to cover outstanding balances then the remaining balance will be eligible for collection using an outside collection Title 3 "Revenue and Finance"Ordinance Page 2 agency and additional collection fees will be added to the customer amount owed. An owner account will then be created, water service restored to the property and the charges for full service from the start date of the new account will be billed to the owner account; or 3) The account is a tenant account without a city water service connection. For such an account, if full payment on the account is not received within two business days, then on the third business day notice of the city's intent to terminate the tenant account will be sent to the owner. If full payment on the account is not received by the eighth business day and no notification to close the tenant account for an earlier effective date has been received, then the City shall close the tenant account, the deposit applied and any remaining deposit will be refunded to the customer. If the deposit is not sufficient to cover outstanding balances then the remaining balance will be eligible for collection using an outside collection agency and additional collection fees will be added to the customer amount owed. An owner account will then be created for all applicable services to an occupied location and the related charges from the start date of the new account will be billed to the owner account. Section 3. That Section 3.200.030 entitled "Liability for Utility Charges" of the Pasco Municipal Code, shall be and hereby is amended to read as follows: 3.200.130 LIABILITY FOR UTILITY CHARGES. The customer for utility service shall be personally liable for all utility charges applicable to the property for which service is rendered from the time the service begins until the service to that customer is terminated or the account is closed. When a tenant account is closed and there is no new customer tenant account to start the same day, an owner account will be created the same day, applicable services will remain active,be billed to the owner account and the owner shall be the customer. Section 4. That Section 3.200.140(H) entitled "Misc. Utility Charges" of the Pasco Municipal Code, shall be and hereby is amended to read as follows: 3.200.140(H) There shall be a charge as set forth in Chapter 3.07 of this code to be known as "On-line Processing Assistance Fee" for payments made over the phone that utilize office personnel to process the transaction via the on-line or phone payment system and a charge known as "Phone No Assist Payment Fee" for payments made via the phone payment system that do not utilize office personnel. Section 5. That Section 3.200.170 entitled "Budget Plan" of the Pasco Municipal Code, shall be and hereby is created to read as follows: 3.200.170 BUDGET PLAN. The Budget Plan is hereby authorized for eligible customers to provide a program by which a customer is billed and pays a fixed, flat budget billing amount each month rather than the actual utility charges incurred subject to the terms and conditions listed in this section. By definition the budget billing amount is an estimate and average based on past events and is unlikely to exactly match the total actual charges in a 12 month period. Title 3 "Revenue and Finance"Ordinance Page 3 A) Application and Qualification. Applications for the Budget Plan are to be made through the City utility billing office. A customer shall qualify for the Budget Plan if they meet the following criteria: 1. Their account has been in full service status for at least 12 consecutive months and has not incurred a late pay penalty. 2. Their monthly budget billing amount is paid in full each month before incurring a late pay penalty. 3. Their Budget Plan account is paid to zero at the time of the "carryover" calculation. B) Billing. The customer shall be sent a bill monthly showing how much is due for the monthly budget billing amount and how much the account is over/under paid based on actual charges and actual payments made on the account. This billing shall be considered sufficient notice and no separate notification of changes to the monthly budget billing amount is required. It shall be the customers' responsibility to monitor changes to the monthly budget billing amount and to adjust any amounts established on the city's AutoPay program or other automated payment bank paying systems. C) Calculation. The monthly budget billing amount is calculated by taking the total of the actual charges for the previous 12 months and dividing that total by 12 to establish the base monthly amount. The base monthly amount is adjusted by the carryover amount to establish the monthly budget amount. The "carryover" amount is the difference between all charges to the account through the calculation date less all payments through the calculation date divided by 12. Budget billing accounts will be re-calculated and the monthly budget billing amount adjusted each April and October. D) Removal from the Budget Plan. Accounts that no longer meet the eligibility criteria will be removed from the Budget Plan and be subject to all the terms and conditions of accounts not on the Budget Plan; which may also include payment of all delinquent charges. Accounts may also be removed from the Budget Plan upon customer request. Any accounts removed from the Budget Plan based on customer request will be ineligible to return to the Budget Plan for one year from the date of removal. The Finance Manager is authorized to re- enroll an account to the Budget Plan immediately if there has been only one late penalty and the customer has demonstrated to the Finance Manager sufficient actions have been taken (e.g. enrollment in Autopay) to guard against future late payments. E) Notifications. A customer that is removed from the budget plan will be notified in writing that the account has been removed from the Budget Plan and be advised of the delinquent amount owing on the account. The account will then follow the same collection processes used for accounts that are not enrolled in the Budget Plan. Section 6. This Ordinance shall take effect 5 days after passage and publication by law. Title 3"Revenue and Finance"Ordinance Page 4 PASSED by the City Council of the City of Pasco at a regular meeting the 18th day of March, 2013. Matt Watkins, Mayor ATTEST: APPROVED AS TO FORM: tiN Debra L. Clark, City Clerk Leland B. Kerr, City Attorney Title 3 "Revenue and Finance"Ordinance Page 5