City swallows bitter sewer pill

HAYDEN — City council members here Tuesday night wrote off $10,507.45 in delinquent sewer utility bills that were past the statute of limitations on collections.

Treasurer Sandee Rudy explained that the cause was Hayden’s lack of control over city sewer utility services. Hayden residents pay their sewer and water bills to different agencies. Water is paid to the five water districts that service the area, and sewer is paid to the city. The water districts won’t shut off the flow to customers who are past due, Rudy said.

City clerk Abbi Landis said, “The city has approached several of the water districts to explore the option of partnering with them to get a more prompt solution for delinquent accounts with their help in shutting off the property’s water. Until an agreement is reached, the city continues to turn delinquent accounts over to the collection agency.”

The problem was compounded last year when the city transitioned to a new collection agency for its delinquent sewer accounts. During a recent audit, accounts totaling $26,407.23 were found to have been left unassigned to Chapman Financial Services, Landis said. Of those accounts, $10,507.45 were past the statute of limitations and therefore uncollectible.

“All debt has a termination period which keeps collection agencies from continuing to collect by filing suit outside of a time period called the statute of limitations,” wrote Rudy. “This amount must be written off in the accounting system as uncollectible so as not to improperly inflate accounts receivable,” she added.

By so doing at its meeting Tuesday night, the city council reduced its accounts receivable in the sewer operation and maintenance fund by $10,507.45 and increased its bad debt expense in the sewer operation and maintenance fund by the same amount.

Landis said another $13,075.00 had been written off last year. However, Landis clarified that “Writing off delinquent sewer accounts is not a normal business practice for the city.”

Council President Roger Saterfiel praised Rudy and city administrator Brett Boyer for taking action on the issue.

“For a long time they went uncollected,” he said, and thanks to their efforts “the city now has a process to collect at least some of the money.”

Boyer in turn gave credit to Rudy and her staff for diving deep into the records. “It’s difficult” to recoup these unpaid fees, he remarked. The city may go back to the water districts to get help in shutting off some accounts, Rudy said. The city will also certify some unpaid bills with the county to prevent having to write them off. The lien would then show up on the non-paying sewer customer’s county property taxes, Rudy said.