We wrote about this in the paper but for some reason it's just now hitting me. Five days late and the city will shut off your water?
Isn't that a bit heavy handed?
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12 comments:
Yes, heavy-handed.
It's like they are just trying to run people out of this town.
It's not enough to have the highest water rates in the state? It's not enough that our utilities in general are so much higher than Winfield's? Not enough that our proerty taxes are incredibly high, yet our property is worth less??
YOU ARE RUNNING GOOD PEOPLE OFF YOU MORONS. WAKE UP BEFORE THIS TOWN IS NOTHING BUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS!!!
I will be first boat in the water.
The Mayor says if you would just pay your d*** bill it wouldn't matter.
On the other hand, City staff argues that the policy ws precipitated by renters who would use aliases or agents to get new water service after having had service disconnected for non-payment.
One staffer stated that some renters were sending in 12 year old children to open a customer account rather than to pay their past due bill. It would seem that the City could have addressed that issue in a much more simple and less punitive fashion.
I do not know of many businesses that allow a 12 year old to enter into such business arrangements. It may have been reasonanle to engage landlords in some verification of tennancy by the applicant for service. It certainly could have been pushed back on the landlords to withhold security deposits until such time as proof of all utitlity debt against the property were reconciled.
One concerned caller alleged that the landlords lobbied one commssioner heavily against making this a landlord issue. So, we have a policy that pushes the matter out to all citizens/customers.
It amounts to a municipal fine for being delinquent. Be thankful there are not court costs assigned the matter. It does not effectively resolve the problem described by the City staff.
It also focuses the attention onto the shut off penalties and away from the fact that the average water bill in Arkansas City is inordinately high in comparison to other sities of like size.
Some staff have defended the rates assigning blame to EPA and other federal mandates. In order to accpet that as the foundational reason for the high rate one would also have to assume that AC is the only municipality having to comply with such regulations.
How do other cities with comparable population provide water service for less money and why are they not charging $100 for restoral of services? Could be they do not know what our staffers know.
"One concerned caller alleged that the landlords lobbied one commssioner heavily against making this a landlord issue. So, we have a policy that pushes the matter out to all citizens/customers."
Gee, that's a shocker, since Dottie is a landlord. Glad to see she is still putting Ark City ahead of her personal interest...
NOT!
Has anyone really looked into what our city bases it's water rates on in comparison to other cities?
How can someone pay essentially two water bills (cost of bill and then penality) if they can't pay one? I realize there is an issue with bill payment but is this (stiff penality) the best way to solve it?
Wow -- even banks give you a 10 day grace period.
It should be an issue with the landlords who own rental properties. That is where the problem lies, but Dottie Smith would be affected, so now everyone has to pay.
Dottie is not the problem. (I happen to know that she is a good person)
The penalty is the issue, so stick with it. If a person cannot pay a $70 bill, how the heck can they pay $170. We must learn how to do with situations. People have been laid-off, hours have been cut back. There was a saying in the old days, something like, you can't squeeze blood outa a turnip. (?)
Oh well, have a good day.
I agree that Dottie Smith is a good person of good character. Though, sometimes, the better judgment is to abstain from voting when a matter mioght have a direct business impact. I still find ehr to be of integrity. I shard the assertion conveyed to me by a interested citizen. I apologize if I made anyone to think that I was impugning the character of ANY commissioner. I was not.
The issue being debated is the $100 fee. However, the issue raised by staff was that certain citizens were fraudulently receiving water service under aliases or agents.
This penalty does not address that matter. It will be paid by folks who maintain the same address and have a history of service.
If this were Westar or KGS, they would have had to get approval from the KCC. The state organization addresses the rate and fee setting practices of utility companies who effectively have a monopoly on their customer base.
The CURB group evaluates whether the utilitry service provider can justify the costs of service or service fees before approving rate increases.
It might be time to lobby for state legislation that oversees municipal utility rates also. It is not as if a resident can seek another supplier for water.
Perhaps, if the cost of sending out a service worker to turn that valve off and then back on is that costly, it could be contracted out to a small firm. Taht would address the fee for shut offs.
On the other hand, nothing has been done to address the concern of city staff that 12 year olds are coming to obtain water/sewer/sanitation services in their name.
Those are the two issues.
How many days will the Courier deliver for free ?
Ark City electric rates are higher than Winfields because of 2 things. One is Westar & the other is that Winfield has generation & their own linemen. Westar is the largest bully/monopoly in Kansas.
I think Rural Water 5 has the highest water rate. It is a minimum of 35$ then you add your metered rate on to that. That water comes from Winfield. We have cattle & our water is hardly less than 50$/month.
Winfield also doesn't dump poison/fluoride to their water every night at midnight.
That must be why people in this town are so hateful, intollerant, and negative - its the fluoride
No, it's not the flouride, it's being bent over the counter by our ciy leaders who are supposed to have our best interest in mind when they make decisions, but usually only have their own.
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