I live in a small town, under 2000 people. City hall handles to water. That’s where you go to start/end service, pay your bill, etc. In my downtime between jobs, I’ve been volunteering there to help and I really got to know the people there well. They’re all very nice people but…somewhat stubborn. For the past 2+ years, the routine for the water bill was it was due on the 15th of each month. You could call in and make payment arrangements for a later date if you needed and if you were 2 months behind, you got a 15 day notice in the mail of impending shut off. Once you’re shut off, you have to get your account paid up to date plus a $50 reconnect fee. Pretty standard. Well two of the city officials decided to change that. With no notice.
The way it is now, is bill is due on the 15th. No payment arrangements allowed. If it’s not paid on the 15th, the 16th your water gets shut off with no notice. Even if you’re technically only one day past due. This was implemented last month but only people who were a month past due got shut off. This month everyone who was past due in any amount got shut off. At Christmas time. Where the cheapest water bills are never less than $90 and average over $100. So people got no notice, their water gets shut off and they suddenly have to come up with $150-$300 immediately to get it turned back on. Again, no payment arrangements.
Now both myself and the receptionist (who has to deal with the backlash) told them not only was this a bad idea in general, that it was awful to do at Christmas time. They refused to listen, though they did finally relent in ‘informing’ people by putting a small paragraph about the change in the middle of that stupid newsletter you get with your utility bills that noone ever reads. Needless to say, people are pissed. There’s a special council meeting going on tomorrow night and there’s a huge post on a local Facebook page about getting together a class action lawsuit against the city if the council doesn’t undo this.
I did some digging and apparently they’re breaking a few laws by not giving a notice, shutting off on a Friday (yeah they did that too) and I believe by not offering any sort of payment arrangements. And while I think they definitely need to change things, I do feel a little bad for the people I know at city hall. They’re all nice people but a few of them just are…not capable of making good decisions.
TLDR; my town has broken laws about water utilities and people are calling lawyers.
Unbelievable. The only place I’ve ever heard of that shuts off a utility immediately if not paid by the due date was Vietnam.
The municipalities I know of here never shut off water for non-payment. If you procrastinate long enough they just add a surcharge and fling it onto the property tax bill.
Small towns all across the US are having trouble with water systems, many of which are outdated and hard to keep functioning and safe. Many are selling out to private owners, who invest the fix-up money and then triple the billing rates. Sounds like the OP’s town might have been trying a panicky and under-thought fix for funding shortfalls. It’s a bitch of a problem with no good fix. (Fortunately, my town only supplies water to a central area, and the res of us are on wells.)
I had my water cut off for nonpayment many years ago, in Sacramento, which has a half-dozen “water districts” with varying rules. I was not quite 30 days late, and it was a bitch to get straightened out with money I didn’t have.
I’ve accidentally missed a payment or two over the 16 years we’ve lived here…all my fault, of course. I pay the nominal late fee and we’re set.
I cannot see in what universe it is legal to shut off the water ONE DAY after the due date with no notice. I think the city officials need their leashes yanked. They overreached their authority and make have broken laws.
Good luck! (I would hand out the office phone numbers of the city officials in question. You know, just in case a disgruntled citizen needs to escalate the situation.) (No, I am not advocating violence or doxxing.)
Actual details aside. I hate when people sue a town…particularly when it more along of the lines “hey, lets get rich bitch” than “hey, cut this out, even though sometimes shit happens”.
You know who PAYS for all those lawsuits? You think the asshole(s) whoever they might be or not be do?
No, it is all the citizens of the town? You like stealing from all your neighbors?
Yeah it’s kinda dumb I agree. The whole reason they made this change is because there’s not enough cash flow coming in. I mean, the median income here for a household is like $30k a year. It’s not a rich area. The only things keeping this town running are two lumber mills and a casino on a nearby reservation. I’m hoping the town meeting will get some changes. I mean, they haven’t in the past. Attempts to stop a huge rate increase and to stop them from removing senior discounts all failed. But this time people at least have some laws on their side.
This is what elections and recalls are for. My town pulled anything like that, they’re out on the ears the next election. If you sue, you’re suing yourself.
AngelSoft, I don’t know where you live, but here in Minnesota, there is something called a cold-weather rule that does not allow utility suppliers to shut off water, gas, or electricity during winter months. The state made it illegal to do so. There are a number of steps utilities can take to try to get their money, and utilities are allowed to build up a fund that subscribers pay into for just such situations. But if city council members here tried that, they’d be out of office and under arrest for such a move.
I would be screwed. I live in a small town and we pay water/sewer quarterly. I always send in a partial payment and let them know when I will have the balance which is always after the due date. They are always appreciative of the fact that I let them know and the account is noted. If I lived where you do, my water would be shut off. I’ve never heard of any utility being shut off because of a payment being 24 hours late.
I’m in Oregon and from what I can tell we don’t have any provisions against shutting off water in the winter. It gets cold here but I guess not THAT cold.
And as for them being nice people well, they are outside of the job. They just take their jobs way too seriously I think. One of them isn’t from Oregon and only moved here in the past six months to accept the job and the other one doesn’t live in town. They live like an hour away. Both are used to a ‘big city’ way of things which doesn’t always translate well to a city as small as ours. I will be the first to admit neither of them should be working with customers. Having a long experience being in customer service myself, some of the things I’ve heard them say just make my jaw drop. They act as if people aren’t paying because they haven’t been made to in the past. That the fact that people are coming up with hundreds of dollars to pay their water bill to get it turned back on is proof that they could do it all along. And they also see this as ‘helping’ the citizens by getting them up to date and not always constantly behind. All in all, somewhat patronizing of the people in town.
Part of me wants to go to the council meeting but part of me doesn’t. It’s not gonna be pretty I know that much.
Some digging revealed these snippets:
(Note, I’m not familiar with OR’s laws or how the website(s) are set up, but here’s what I found)
(6) All water utilities must comply with the Commission’s rules and regulations.
(b) Upon failure to pay, the water utility may disconnect service after providing a written five-day notice. The notice shall contain the information and be served in the manner prescribed as provided in OAR 860-036-0245. When a customer whose service was terminated applies for service within 20 days of the termination, the provisions of this rule apply.
It also appears that if they’re on a time-payment plan, there’s an extra 15 days in there somewhere. In addition, when they come to shut off the water, the person doing that is supposed to make one last good faith effort to collect the money right there and then. Additionally, they’re authorized to accept a ‘reasonably’ partial payment or even push the disconnection back another 5 days if they feel that the person doesn’t understand the ramifications of what’s happening.
This is OAR 860-036-0245 which explains the disconnect procedure. Your city’s policy of shutting them off when they’re 1 day past due doesn’t seem to fit with it.
I’m not sure what suing the city is going to do, but calling the Secretary of State or Oregon’s Public Utility Commission and report them might get this under control if they’re breaking these laws (but you may want to pick through them more carefully than I did).
Some official made that decision. That is the party you need to contact. And there is undoubtedly an oversight body – committee or board that the official answers to. Somewhere in the chain of command, there must be an elective office that is dependent upon votes – supervisor, mayor, commissioner, whatever; whether paid or not.
If your state is like mine, or ones in New England, small towns have an annual meeting where every resident has a vote and if the citizens are well organized, much can be accomplished.
There may also be a recall procedure mandated by the state constitution or town charter, which can spring into effect before the usual election comes around.
My advice is to form a citizen’s group, hire an attorney, and become politically active. While many small governments seem to have apathetic citizens, you’ll find that apathy can turn to activism when there is an issue of general interest.
Or, better yet, volunteer to help, get to know the people there well, and tell them that not only was this a bad idea in general, that it was awful to do at Christmas time. Maybe see if the receptionist could tell them so, too.