Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors last week looked at streamlining its relationship with home renting customers. Staff told the board August 12th that disproportionate office time is spent on a small group of customers, namely tenants of rental property. Board Clerk Cris Thompson said in effect, agency staff is acting as the middleman in the housing rental business. General Manager Gene Mancebo said the Rules & Rates Committee (made up of District 5 Director Terence Moore and Vice President Debbie Dunn of District 4) will look into the issue, and could direct staff on further study. The aim is to help agency staff limit its time spent on customers who rent homes, or to possibly change the fees involved. Finance Manager Mike Lee said the agency deals with tenants, but the owner is liable for bills. They also “notify owners (when a tenant bill is delinquent) so they can stay ahead of our shutoff procedure.” The agency has a lot of turnover in rentals, with costs coming from meter readings for old tenants, another for new tenants, and service orders. Lee said “right now we’re right in the middle of the rental business,” and new policy “takes us out of the rental business.” Thompson said “11 percent of the customer base creates 35 percent of the customer service workload.” Mancebo said the agency will look at its ability to bill for extra work. Attorney Steve Kronick said penalties and interest are set by statute, and cannot be surpassed. Penalties for late payments, door tags and shutoff charges can be raised, but must be reasonably related to actual costs. Late payment is a 1.5 percent penalty, a door tag is 10 percent, and a shutoff is 25 percent (and more than that after hours,) Mancebo said. Thompson said it takes 3-4 months to collect from an owner when a renter ditches on a bill, and “even then it goes to a lien.” Thompson said with owners, you can shut off service and create a lien, but with tenants, “a lot of times we can’t collect.” Lee said a “$10 door tag has to be reviewed,” and changing it would take some study. Staff was asked to look for areas to lower costs, Thompson told the board, and she said has brought this to the attention of the AWA board before, with no change. The board discussed the possibility of involving the property owners at a future meeting. Mancebo said the board indicated that through the committee, they would give direction to staff on how to proceed, and where to study the issue. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. -
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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors last week looked at streamlining its relationship with home renting customers. Staff told the board August 12th that disproportionate office time is spent on a small group of customers, namely tenants of rental property. Board Clerk Cris Thompson said in effect, agency staff is acting as the middleman in the housing rental business. General Manager Gene Mancebo said the Rules & Rates Committee (made up of District 5 Director Terence Moore and Vice President Debbie Dunn of District 4) will look into the issue, and could direct staff on further study. The aim is to help agency staff limit its time spent on customers who rent homes, or to possibly change the fees involved. Finance Manager Mike Lee said the agency deals with tenants, but the owner is liable for bills. They also “notify owners (when a tenant bill is delinquent) so they can stay ahead of our shutoff procedure.” The agency has a lot of turnover in rentals, with costs coming from meter readings for old tenants, another for new tenants, and service orders. Lee said “right now we’re right in the middle of the rental business,” and new policy “takes us out of the rental business.” Thompson said “11 percent of the customer base creates 35 percent of the customer service workload.” Mancebo said the agency will look at its ability to bill for extra work. Attorney Steve Kronick said penalties and interest are set by statute, and cannot be surpassed. Penalties for late payments, door tags and shutoff charges can be raised, but must be reasonably related to actual costs. Late payment is a 1.5 percent penalty, a door tag is 10 percent, and a shutoff is 25 percent (and more than that after hours,) Mancebo said. Thompson said it takes 3-4 months to collect from an owner when a renter ditches on a bill, and “even then it goes to a lien.” Thompson said with owners, you can shut off service and create a lien, but with tenants, “a lot of times we can’t collect.” Lee said a “$10 door tag has to be reviewed,” and changing it would take some study. Staff was asked to look for areas to lower costs, Thompson told the board, and she said has brought this to the attention of the AWA board before, with no change. The board discussed the possibility of involving the property owners at a future meeting. Mancebo said the board indicated that through the committee, they would give direction to staff on how to proceed, and where to study the issue. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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