For City Council Meeting and Rialto Utility Authority [July 28, 2020]
TO: Honorable City Council
APPROVAL: Rod Foster, City Manager
FROM: Thomas J. Crowley, P.E., Utilities Manager
Title
Request City Council/Rialto Utility Authority Board to Conduct a Public Hearing to Adopt Resolution No. 7640 Authorizing the Placement of Wastewater Service Charges on the County Property Tax Roll for Delinquent Accounts.
(ACTION)
Body
BACKGROUND
The City of Rialto (City)/Rialto Utility Authority (RUA) provides wastewater services throughout the entire City and areas of Bloomington. Where RUA provides water service, both water and wastewater services are billed together. For delinquent accounts, the RUA is able to impose penalties and shut off water services to promote payment, per Rialto Municipal Code Section 12.08. However, there are areas of the City where either the West Valley Water District or the Fontana Water Company provides water services and the City only bills for wastewater service. Historically, the wastewater-only accounts have high delinquency rates, as the RUA cannot physically disconnect services for lack of payment.
In order to more effectively collect wastewater-only accounts, the Rialto Municipal Code Section 12.08.201 was amended by Ordinance to allow for placement of delinquent charges on property tax bills through the County Tax Collector's Office. The Ordinance approved on June 19, 2007, provides a method for collecting delinquent accounts similar to the lien placement process used for solid waste delinquent accounts.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
Notification letters were sent to the delinquent account holders alerting them of City/RUA's plan to place the delinquent charges on the property tax roll and giving them one last opportunity to pay. This was done on May 21, 2020. The last date for a customer to pay their delinquent wastewater bill before placement on the tax rolls was June 26, 2020. It should be noted that if a customer paid their...
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