June utility bills mailed, utility committee meets Thursday night

City administrator Ray Walden announced the utility committee session during Monday night’s regular board of aldermen meeting. He also said officials would be discussing the billing cycle with the committee and asking members to consider resuming penalties and shut-offs.

He reported that utility bills for June consumption were sent out Monday and asked that anyone not receiving a bill by the end of the week contact the utility office at 727-4177.

The office is working on the July consumption reads and Walden expects to resume regular monthly billing cycles soon. “We’ll take into account any action by this board regarding the billing cycle with input from the utility committee and anything that they’d recommend that this board would approve,” he said.

Utility customers enrolled in auto-pay should be contacted about the amount and timing of their drafts this week, he said.

The bills for May consumption were the last to post in the general ledger for the 2019-20 fiscal year. The budget called for electric fund revenues and transfers in of $6.37 million, he reported. But preliminary unaudited numbers for the year ending June 30 show only $5.4 million received, he said.

“Most of the difference is attributable to a combination of mild weather last year, which resulted in lower electric usage, and an 8.7 percent decrease in our electric rates that took effect with the July 2019 billing,” he said. “That was after the 2019-20 budget had been adopted.”

On the expense side, expenses and transfers out are expected to end the year at $5.36 million, or slightly under realized revenue, he reported. Meanwhile water revenue and transfers in totaled $1.48 million and expenses of $1.1 million. A well wasn’t completed in time, the major reason expenses came in so much less, and is now part of the 2020-21 budget, Walden said.

He noted that surrounding cities have resumed penalties and shutoffs for non-payment.

“We wanted to get our billing cycle steady, and I think with the bills going out this week, we’re in a steady place,” he said, and plans to ask the utility committee and aldermen to consider resuming those practices.

“I think we’ve turned a corner and are getting to a much better spot,” he told the board. June consumption billing due dates were staggered to keep customers from trying to pay their bills all at the same time.

“Hopefully that will mitigate some of the phone call queues as well as drive-thru lines,” he said. “We’ve got staff available to respond to that.”

Newer customers had a separate bill and cover letter than went out over the weekend, Walden reported, and will have payment plans available to them.

The utility committee meeting is expected to be posted on Tuesday, he told the board.

For more details, see next week’s issue of The Salem News.