HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 7019 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7019
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council tlay 14, 1985
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Subject: CHANGE IN WATER AND SEWER FINAL NOTICE BILLING
Background
Each month the Water Department sends Fort Worth customers a water bin for water
consumption during the previous 30 days. In some cases, the customer does not pay the
current bill before the next billing cycle has been sent. When this occurs, the next water
bill shows the "arrears" billing on the water bill, and identifies it as previous charges. The
billing for the current month shows under current charges. If the customer does not pay
the previous charges by the past due date, a final notice is sent. This final notice allows
five days to pay the outstanding arrears or service will be terminated. For each final notice
an envelope, postage and notice must be prepared, stuffed and mailed. Through the first
six months of this fiscal year,'73,606 final notices have been mailed. In fiscal year 1984,
over 124,000 final notices were sent.
Proposed Change in Final Notice Procedure
The Water Department proposes to eliminate a separate mailing of the final notice. Instead,
a final notice will still be issued as required, but it will be combined with the second month
bill. Those customers who currently wait for the final notice before paying their bill will
lose five days additional time to pay for service that was billed forty-five days earlier.
Customers who pay current charges each month will not be affected.
Combining the final notice with the second month's billing will eliminate the need to mail
an average of 10,000 final notices per month, with a resultant savings due to a reduced
consumption of envelopes and postage. Savings to the Water Department in postage alone
is expected to reach $30,000 annually. Besides savings in postage, the number of envelopes
used will be reduced. In addition, Customer Service will recognize administrative and clerical
savings since approximately 10,000 fewer bills per month will have to be processed.
Similarly, the City's Mailroom will accrue a savings in clerical time and use of the "stuffing"
machine. Finally, Data Processing will be able to eliminate special "final notice', runs,
with a concurrent savings in administrative and CPU time.
Publici
If the City Council concurs with this proposal July, 1985, is the target for implementing
the change. Water and Sewer customers will be notified two months in advance of
implementing the billing change. A separate notice in the May water bins advising of the
upcoming change will be inserted in all water bills. In the June billing, a notice in the City
Times will be published. Just prior to implementation of the billing change, a press
announcement will be released to area newspapers.
Water Department staff will respond to any questions the Council may have regarding this
matter.
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-ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS