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Deposit rates could increase for city utilities |
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Tuesday, 18 March 2008 |
By MIKE BURKHOLDER
Managing Editor
ST. MARYS — New users of the city of St. Marys’ electrical service could soon end up shelling out more for a deposit as the problem of unpaid and delinquent bills has local landlords searching for answers.
Approximately two dozen landlords attended a St. Marys City Electric Committee meeting Monday to express a desire for an increase in the utility deposit. City officials called the meeting to gauge the interest in possibly raising the rates from current levels.
Currently the city requires a deposit of $75 if a dwelling has natural gas heating and $150 if the dwelling uses electric heating. However as natural gas rates rise, residents are beginning to use electric heaters and running up bills in excess of the deposits.
“What I’m seeing is more air conditioning is being used and even if they have gas heat, they are running electric heaters and the $75 isn’t covering it,” Utility Office Supervisor Carol Lengerich said. “Some that are coded as gas heat are using more electric.”
Lengerich presented landlords in attendance with the rates surrounding cities and villages charge residents for deposits. Celina has a $200 deposit, New Bremen charges up to $250, Minster up to $300 and Wapakoneta charges up to $150.
“I want some input to see if these needed raised,” Lengerich said of the current rates. “I ran some numbers and I am finding some final bills are coming out to $200 and that leaves a balance left.”
Upon the final utility bill a resident incurs, the total is subtracted from the deposit. If there is any money left over, a refund is mailed to the customer. However landlords in the city have expressed issues regarding unpaid and delinquent bills being passed onto them if the residents cannot be located or the bill exceeds the deposit.
Committee member Jim Harris cautioned against setting the rate too high. Harris said a high deposit could dissuade a family from moving into St. Marys.
“I have an issue where $250 is a chunk of change,” Harris said. “I don’t know if they could afford that.”
One landlord suggested the city have a form on hand that would require notification of every person living at a residence before utility service is approved. The form would have a clause that would allow the applicant to authorize the city to release their payment history to a prospective landlord.
“We could have Kraig (Noble) draft a letter that they could sign off on,” Hitchcock said. “Maybe we could add some information that would authorize the release of that information to landlords.”
Mayor Greg Freewalt said he would work with city officials to present a proposal to committee members. It would then be the decision of committee members whether to forward the proposal, if any, to councilors.
“We’ll put something together and see if this committee is supportive of it,” Freewalt said. “We want to be reasonable and protect the people in the community.”
Hitchcock said any rate increase would only impact new applicants signing up for city utilities. Current residents would be unaffected.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 21 March 2008 )
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