Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Into The Void with John Miller

Here's a question for the Prescott City Council, why isn't something being done to alleviate the inordinate amount of overdue utility accounts?

For four months now the Picayune has been informing the citizens of Prescott as to how many accounts are overdue in each of the three billing cycles along with the amount owed. The problem is the numbers continue to rise as account after account is allowed to remain unfettered in the use of electricity without payment being rendered.

For the month of June there were 303 accounts overdue in the three billing cycles. The third cycle alone had 122 past due accounts, with the total amount owed being $185,426.18. It has been taken into consideration two of the accounts belong to the defunct Nevada County Hospital with its bill to date being $151,010.96.

In addition the total amount actually owed for June electricity usage on these overdue accounts is $245,226.74. Folks, this is a lot of money for a city the size of Prescott. Even with the hospital's accounts not being counted the past due bills total $94,215.78.

The fun doesn't stop there. We have also requested a list of names to go along with the account numbers, with the city balking. An attorney general's opinion has been sought, but hasn't been received as yet.

Now, the intent is not to go out and embarrass people who are a little late on getting their electric bill paid, but too many of these accounts are 60 and 90 days past due. When a residential account is allowed to accrue a debt of more than $1,000 and be more than three months overdue and still remains active, something is seriously wrong.

It's up to the Prescott City Council, though, to take matters into its own hands. Those elected officials agreed to uphold the law when they took office; one of the laws not being upheld at this time is one the 1984 council passed.

Ordinance 6 of 1984 states the city is supposed to terminate service of those who haven't paid their bill for 60 days. Ain't being done, is it?

For the commercial accounts, the explanation given is some only pay their bills on a quarterly basis. This is understood, but not a complete answer as it doesn't address residential customers.

Customers with Entergy receive a bill with a due date and an amount the bill will be if it becomes overdue. However, miss the second date and Entergy will have a shut-off notice in the mail post-haste. If the bill remains unpaid Entergy representatives will come to the offender's house and shut off the electricity without question.

But this doesn't happen in Prescott. Users are allowed to have accounts amounting to being years past due, yet the service remains functional. Again, why?

The council can consider this the proverbial gauntlet being tossed. The members of the city's governing body are duly challenged not only to look into this matter, but find a solution to it.

If they choose to ignore it, and hopefully they won't, then one of the few remaining options would be to get the courts involved, and no one wants that.