What would bringing water billing in house look like for the Town of Essex? I am hoping to find out. The Town of Lasalle recently brought their water bills inhouse to save money and have more control over billing. I want Essex to investigate doing this as well.
Currently, water bills in Essex are outsourced and the Town pays E.L.K. Energy to bill users for their water use. This is where I feel there is a disconnect with hiring someone to bill for a “town product”.
When someone is late paying their water bill, which unfortunately can happen, the town along with myself have been contacted with the deadline E.L.K. has given residents to pay. From my experience, residents are trying to pay but given a short timeline that causes a lot of stress in our already stressed out families.
Here is where it gets messy… E.L.K. sets a short timeline, the town is often not consulted, and water charges get put on taxes without much of a chance for our residents to pay. I believe quality of service would increase if we brought this billing back to the town.
During a recent council meeting where E.L.K. came forward to present their audited financial statements I asked how much the cost was to the Town of Essex for them to bill us for water, $37,000 per month. That is a lot of money!
Administration is working on bringing a report back to council to see the cost difference for in house billing. Over my years on council we have discussed this a few times but never went as far as asking for a report. When we get the results I will share with you so stay tuned!
