The City of Astoria Water Department has been leaking money.

Mark Carlson, city finance director, says the concern is the loss of revenue from unpaid utility bills.

Carlson.wav “We’ve done some research, and over the last 24 months there’s been about twenty six hundred dollars a month that has been going to collections that in essence, will never be collected....what we found additionally is that about ninety five percent of these dollars were related to, ah, tenants and people that are renting.” (:17)

At Monday night’s meeting (9/19/11) of the Astoria City Council, council members heard a draft resolution regarding the water and sewer department receipts and billing practices that if implemented, will shift the responsibility for payment away from tenants.

Carlson2.wav “Ultimately, the responsibility for the payment of that utility bill falls to the property owner, uh the landlord. In the event that the tenant doesn’t pay so that would be one of the major changes that we would be making.” (:13)

Proposed changes include requiring in-person applications with ID required for new service, persons with previous unpaid bills would have clear past due amounts before service could be established, or restored, service deposits would rise from just over 97 dollars to 150 dollars, and if utility bills go unpaid for 60 days, the city could place a lien on the property.

Carlson said the changes would bring Astoria’s utility policies in line with those of other cities. Monday night’s proposals were presented as a draft resolution. Another public hearing on the proposed changes is tentatively set for a council meeting in October.