In 2011, Trotwood residents owed the city $140,005 in water bills, $92,457 in sewer, $401,719 in refuse and $143,278 in storm water.
That’s nearly $800,000 in unpaid bills, and the preliminary projection for 2013 is $665,000.
“A lot of those are apartment complexes,” Lucking said. “When you have a multi-family complex like that, it’s very difficult to shut off the water. It’s not as if each apartment is metered. It’s all in the name of the (apartment) ownership group.”
Not every city collects its own water or other utility bills. For those cities that use water from Montgomery County or city of Dayton, the county or city collects and is responsible for dealing with customers.
In Trotwood’s case, the city buys the water and trash collection services, then sends out its own bills. If they aren’t paid, the loss is on Trotwood.
“We’re still in the neighborhood of 250-300 in people not paying their water bills,” Lucking said. “We’ve been very aggressive in terms of people not paying their water bills. If there’s no payment, we can terminate service, and we do do that. We also use a collection agent. Ultimately what we do is assess a property tax duplicate on unpaid bills.”
That’s what the county does, on a larger scale. A county spokesperson said there were 2,675 delinquent accounts out of 82,811 total accounts. The average delinquency was $220.57, for water and sewer.
“We work with people to pay their bills,” the spokesperson said. “Customers should contact us as soon as they know they can’t pay their bill on time.”
In Tipp City, which operates a water plant with Vandalia but also has its own electricity facility, city manager Jon Crusey says residents receive one bill for everything.
“If a resident doesn’t pay water, the electricity goes off as well,” Crusey said. “Usually, we get the money right away when that happens. We don’t have too many problems.”
Oakwood operates its own water facility, but does not turn off water if the bills are not paid. The bills are added to a customer’s tax liability.
Sometimes, turning off water is the fastest way to get paid.
“When you turn off water in houses, people find a way to pay their bill,” Lucking said. “It makes people angry when you do that, but we’ve just taken a very aggressive attitude about it. We’ve let it go for too long.
“A water fund is called an enterprise fund. It has to operate based on its own revenue stream. Like any business, if its accounts aren’t paying, it’s going to go out of business.”
Trotwood says it works with residents to help them pay their bills. They allow payment plans, but, said Lucking, “ultimately, if you don’t satisfy your water bill, we’re going to turn you off.”
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