Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

City's Past Due Utility Customers Owe $249,908

There are 206 accounts overdue with the City of Prescott water and light department.

This number includes residential and commercial customers, along with the defunct Nevada County Hospital (see related story). The city has about 1,800 customers.

According to information obtained from the city under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 20 of these accounts are 60 days past due, with 49 being more than 90 days past due. The rest are 30 days overdue.

Of those accounts more than 90 days late, 19 owe more than $1,000. Nine of these are commercial accounts, with the other 10 being residential customers.

For the residential accounts, one customer owes $9,367.76. It was first thought that the amount was an accumulation of several residential and commercial accounts under one name, but a close source to the city said Monday it is not. The source says it is a residential address that owes the large amount, but the account is apparently not in the current resident's name.

The smallest amount owed is $34.19 by an overdue customer.

The two accounts for the old Nevada County Hospital total $147,364.12.

Overall, the past due accounts total $249,908.66, including the money owed by the hospital. Without the hospital's part, the city is owed $102,544.54 in past due utilities.

Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor said there are residential customers who ask the city during the first part of the year to hold off on turning off their services until they get their tax refund and can pay in full.

"I don't know who they all are," Taylor said last Friday. He added the city cuts services off every week to someone's house.

There are those who seek extensions, but don't bother to come and pay up, he said in the interview.

Taylor said city employees are constantly reminded to keep their bills current, and none is allowed to get far past due. He has agreed to provide a list of the city employees' accounts to the newspaper. This had not been done by noon Monday

Taylor stated that some city employees have gotten past due in the past, and have had their services cutoff  including one incident last summer.

Some of the commercial accounts, he said, don't pay monthly, but they do pay. Some pay every other month or quarterly, Taylor added.

The company that audits the city annually has never mentioned these accounts or the fact they exist. Taylor said the auditors get concerned when a certain percentage of the accounts is past due, but the city hasn't reached this point yet.

The hospital, he said, is a sore thumb for the city, because it can't collect and can't write the debt off.

There have been times, he said, the city has considered shutting off the utilities to the hospital, but then someone would show interest in possibly buying it and the utilities would be left alone.

Taylor said commercial accounts don't get special rates, and the city has never given a commercial customer free electricity for any length of time to come to Prescott.

"We have been asked about it before, but have just never made it part of the offer to attract business," he said.

June Barron, a field auditor with the Arkansas State Legislative Audit Committee, said there are laws on the books concerning water and sewer departments, but not municipally owned electric companies.

A representative from the Arkansas Public Service Commission said there is no state laws governing municipally owned electric utilities and the PSC doesn't regulate them.

According to Randy Jerry with Entergy the company has due dates on bills sent to its customers. The bills also have a disconnect date on them as well.

If the bill isn't paid on time, Jerry said, the customer is sent another with a shut-off notice. If this is also ignored, their service will be terminated.

Normally this is a two-week time frame from the first due date.

Jerry said there are special circumstances where accounts can get 90 days overdue, but they are rare with Entergy.

Members of the Prescott City Council who were questioned said they do not receive a copy of the past due accounts, though one said they have checked the records.

The information on the city's accounts are public record and a copy of all accounts 30, 60 and 90 or more days past due was sought by the Nevada County Picayune on March 22.

Mayor Howard Taylor released the information on March 27, but denied access to the names of the accounts which are past due.

Prescott City Attorney Glenn Vasser said the city was interested in getting an opinion from Attorney General Mark Pryor to find out if there was any liability in releasing the names for possible publication.

That opinion had not been sought by the city as of March 31.

Because the records are of a public nature, the FOI apparently does not exclude listing the names under a request by any taxpayer.

It could take up to 90 days from the time the question is submitted before Pryor's office responds.