LAKE ALFRED -- The city has been able to collect more money through its Utilities Billing Department now that the billing staff has a more accurate account of how much is owed.

Kelly Roland, the city's finance technician, finished identifying active and inactive customer accounts last week. Since beginning the process in March, the city has collected more than $10,000, she said.

"Now we've got to keep up with everybody's accounts to make sure they're making the payments," Roland said.

The city will no longer accept partial payments of bills and if the bills are not paid on time, services will be disconnected by the 15th of the following month, Roland said.

Since the city began the procedure, 15 customers have had their utility services cut off, she said. Those on the cut-off list will have to pay half of the bill to get service restored.

The Utilities Department mails 2,400 utility bills monthly. The average utility bill for water, sewer and garbage is $72.54. The cost for just water and sewer is $53.75.

The city also won't tolerate delinquent customers anymore, said Sylvia Sims, billing clerk. Delinquent customers have bills that range from $400 to $1,238. They have to pay the current bill plus some extra to decrease the remaining balance on the account, Sims said.

"Customers who've had the real high bills made an attempt to pay them," she said.

There were some customers who were running up high utility bills that were left in the name of deceased parents, said Sims. They wouldn't pay them either, she said.

"When we would catch them, they would move out," said Sims.

What has made accurate billing efficient is hand-held meter readers. The hand-helds allow the billing clerks to go through the accounts to see if a mistake was made because of a water leak, oversight or human error, said Jan Shockley, interim city manager.

"Our intent now is to print out all of the accounts and analyze any of the high bills or any mistakes that may have been made and make the corrections before the water bills are mailed out," she said.

Customers no longer have to enter the Administration Building to pay utility bills. A utility drop box was installed last month so customers can pay their bills at any time. Shockley said the city received the white box with the city's seal for free from the postmaster and had to pay $250 for mounting it on a cement block.

The Ledger

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