New water billing system to take effect in April

For years the city has divided the town into four districts for the purpose of reading water meters and preparing customers' bills. This process kept the city's meter readers and the city staff who prepared the water bills busy most of each month. Bills were prepared and mailed each week, with each week's batch of bills having a different due date. The process also left people who moved across town confused when suddenly their water bill arrived on a different date.

This billing cycle also made things difficult for some people, like Social Security recipients, who are only paid monthly.

For more than a year the city staff, who actually collect the water payments and do the billing, have been working on a system that will be less confusing and take into account the difficulties they have seen customers experience.

Kristi Modlin, city finance manager, said that they chose to start the new system during April and May because they have seen that, historically, customers who have had delinquent bills have used their income tax refunds to get caught up.

So, unless the Nevada City Council changes its mind before the March 20 meeting, the city of Nevada is planning to start a new water billing system during April and May.

Under the new system, all meters will be read during the first 10 business days of the month and the bills generated and printed during the next five days. Those bills will be mailed during the third week of the month with the bill due the third Monday of the following month. The customer will then have 35 days to pay the bill before it becomes delinquent and an additional 14 days before service is disconnected.

"This actually gives customers more time to pay their bills than they currently have," City Manager JD Kehrman said recently.

Currently, customers have nine days to pay a delinquent bill before it is shut off.

While the city will be starting the new meter reading process during April, customers will still receive their March water bills the same as in the past with the final March bill due on April 16 and if not paid by then the customer will be mailed a delinquent notice.

Then the city will begin with the new billing system. Customers' April water bills, based on meter readings during the first 10 days of April, will be printed on April 18 and mailed to customers during that week, with a due date of May 21. After May 21 the bill will become delinquent and delinquent customers will be disconnected on June 5 if the bill is not paid.

Modlin said that if customers have any questions when they receive their April bills they should call the City Hall at (417) 448-2700.

While the change in the billing cycle itself did not require council approval, the ordinance they passed on first reading during a March 6 meeting does make several changes in other billing practices.

The practice of allowing customers to get a 30-day extension on the due date to pay delinquent bills will end.

Kehrman told the council that "the majority of arrangements are done for customers who use this option as a monthly payment plan. In most cases the bill is never brought current and the customer is ultimately disconnected for nonpayment. The arrangement policy is not supported by Municipal Code and represents a serious inefficiency in billing policy."