1989-01-09 Public Hearing and Regular Meeting

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..._, • • CITY OF LA PORTE INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDUM T0: Robert T. Herrera, City Manager FROM: Jeff Litchfield, Director of Finance DATE: January 4, 1989 SUBJECT: Workshop on Utility (Water/Sewer/Garbage) Billing Background On December 12, 1988, the City Council of the City of La Porte held a workshop to discuss proposed changes to Chapter 26, Article II, "Water and Sewer Charges" of the City of La Porte Code of Ordinances. A summary of the proposed changes discussed at the workshop of December 12, 1988 are: 1. Increase the City's reconnect fee from 37.50 to 325.00 if performed during normal working hours, and from 315.00 to 335.00 if performed after normal working hours (i.e. nights, weekends, or holidays), ' 2. Increase the returned check charge from 310.00 to 315.00 for checks not honored by the bank, and 3. Increase the deposit requirement for residential customers from 330.00 to 3100.00. These items were presented to the City Council. Councilman Matuszak asked that staff explore the possibility of returning customers their deposits after either 24 or 36 months of prompt payment, similar to the way the gas and electric utility companies return their deposits. I looked at our operation and determined the following: The key element needed to perform the refund for prompt payment is a compatible computer system, Our computer system is designed to capture 12 months of billing history at a time, Our computer system is not designed to automatically track or flag customer accounts that have late payments, and ' Our computer system is not designed to automatically deduct the appropriate deposit from the customer's account.