A shift to new-look bills

RATHDRUM - Rathdrum residents will see a new utility bill format arriving in their mailboxes starting with the bills the city sent on Friday.

"The new bills going out (on an 8.5-by-11-inch piece of paper folded into thirds) will be replacing our postcard bills," said Melissa Taylor, Rathdrum city clerk.

"We have been having difficulty with our customers not always getting the postcards because they are getting 'eaten' by the sorting machines at the post office or just plain lost by our customer."

During his State of the City address last week, Mayor Vic Holmes said another advantage to the new format will be to include messages the city wants to spread to its residents.

Messages could be about upcoming community events or reminders pertaining to city services such as to remove vehicles from the roadways when snow plows are working.

Taylor said the city can put several lines of text on the bills."We can also add another page behind the bill with citizen surveys or other pertinent information."

Taylor said the new format will cost the city less than the previous billing method.

"It will cost a little more for the paper and envelopes, but by switching we will most likely reduce the spring and fall newsletter mailings, which will more than make up that cost," she said.

The postage for the new mailings is the same as it was for postcards: 25 cents.

Taylor said the city has been working on the new program about six months.

"We had to ensure that our utility billing software was compatible with our mail verification program," she said. "We also found that the windowed envelopes we needed were very expensive so we had been shopping around for the best price. We found that the county's Reprographics Department is not only very reasonable but the quality is fantastic."

The utility bills are sent out monthly on the last day of the month for the previous month's billing.

Taylor said customers will also see their monthly utility usage, an explanation of the bill and water consumption on a chart.

The new bills - like the postcard bills were - are due by the 25th of each month. If payment is late, a penalty of $5.70 is assessed to the account.

The city still has its online bill pay system as well as its pay option at www.xpressbillpay.com.