2006-04-06 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

Home

Ms. Bauman said this will have long -term, helpful effects. The first bills under the new law are going out now. Property owners are more likely to keep their accounts current. If they do not, a lien can be put in place, although the County may not be able to enforce the lien until the property sells. In duplication and overlapping of services, the sewer billing and water billing is what came up. It theoretically could go on one bill. Ms. Cushnie asked how much money the DEM would save by joining the two bills. Ms. Bauman said if they could shut off water for delinquent customers, it would help with collections. They would save on postage and staff time for printing. They have two full -time employees dedicated to the Wastewater billing, and one for Solid Waste. Ms. Cushnie said it seemed their only leverage would be to factualize the amount of money the DEM would save and point out that cooperation is important. It would behoove the COGC before making a recommendation if they could put down in factual terms what the DEM believes it would be saving. No one has leverage to force anyone to do anything unless it comes down to actual monetary gain. She challenged the DEM to present this to the COGC —to present some facts and see money gains to be made. Ms. Bauman said it is a bigger issue than just putting the two on one bill. There are staff issues, such as which number to call if customers have questions. Ms. Cushnie questioned whether it then would create more problems. She said the issue of turning off the water is a separate issue, which should be addressed separately. It is important that the DEM should ultimately be able to turn off the water. In order to create responsible feelings between the Mayor, the Water Supply Department, and any other entities, they need to clearly show what the issues are, rather than make a vague request. The two departments are not working together, and does that cost, for example, a quarter of a million a year? The COGC is powerless to create any change without some efficiency denoted in monetary terms. Ms. Bauman agreed that the issue of turning off the water is a separate issue from that of consolidating the billing. Consolidating the billing would have some far - reaching implications that would go beyond just her and the billing aspect. Ms. Cushnie asked if there was a health hazard, and whether it was creating such a debt that the County is losing money. She wanted to know what the bigger picture is that would create a response from the COGC. The Chair asked Ms. Bauman what the estimated delinquent account amount was, just to get an idea. Ms. Bauman said she believed it was over a million dollars, just for Wastewater. Ms. Cushnie asked the Chair if the COGC was asking for a two -page response from departments that they were interviewing and stated that she would like to see a two -page response from the DEM of the priorities they were asking the COGC to make recommendations on. She wants hard facts and discrete activities separated. 7