Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Picayunish

Continuing the inspection of utility records has revealed many people are allowed to not pay or refuse to pay their electric and water bills with the city of Prescott and they are eventually written off.

In 1999, the city budgeted $37,000 for write-offs, but ended up writing off $46,656. This, thankfully, was down from $73,117 in 1998. Writing off unpaid utility bills is not new for the city, once you research records back to 1990.

Speaking on a personal basis, the city does not have a great collection process for those that move from the community. When I moved last year to Malvern, I did not pay my final bill after leaving Prescott. Only a few bills were sent to my new address in Malvern, and after that, I received only one letter from a collection agency. Once moving back, I paid the bill in full ($279) before having services turned on at our new home.

If these write-offs only happen when people moving off, there is a tremendous turnaround of citizens yearly.

But, upon examining the records more closely, one is led to believe that may not entirely be the case. We once again requested city records to show accounts, amounts and account names for those that had their utilities written off for the last 10-year period. Once again, we received incomplete records. These only showed dates and account numbers, with no total amounts for the listed account numbers - and these records were for only 1999. Records before 1999 are probably in storage, one would assume some type of record has to be kept for three to five years. Of the records received by our office, 909 accounts were written off over a 10-year period by the city of Prescott Water and Light plant. This is roughly about 90 accounts yearly.

One name was accidently (I would presume) left on the list. This man is well known in the community and one who I know professionally and on a personal basis. What account was turned off in his name I don't know, but I do know he still has utility services, at least at his residence. This is the reason these records need to be looked at more closely. If he is still receiving utility services and is still working (he is, though, on a part-time basis) then this amount - whatever it is - should be collected and not written off. No business can operate that way very successfully or for very long unless conditions occur (i.e. that it is a monopoly, has high rates to reflect losses, etc.) that help keep it open.

Over the last ten years, the city has written off $322,630. This averages out to about $32,263 a year. I recognize the city is a much larger business than mine, but it is difficult to see how any business can absorb that much in write offs through the years. While my business is private and its records only known by family members, our accountant and our bank, the city is not. It is a public utility that is owned and operated by your tax dollars. Would you run your business this way?