CASPER, Wyo. — A revised ordinance designed to reduce City of Casper unpaid utility bill debt will advance to third reading.
After a 6–2 vote Feb. 6 to approve the ordinance on second reading, Mayor Steve Cathey said the ordinance would advance to third and final reading at the Feb. 20 regular city council meeting.
While the majority of city councilors support changing the law to hold landlords responsible when tenant utility bills go unpaid after 45 days, several others continue to seek alternative solutions. A consensus is a belief it is not right or financially responsible for reliable rate payers to carry the burden of delinquent utility accounts.
With some councilors still uncertain about the path forward, the majority agreed the council should revisit the ordinance when they meet for a 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13 work session.
One concern is property owners will need to collect more money upfront from tenants to cover possible delinquent utility bills.
Citing the cost of rent as a main factor for the rise in homelessness in the country, at the Feb. 6 council meeting Councilor Kyle Gamroth said he is worried about the effect the ordinance will have on homelessness and feared other unintended side effects could result if the council passes the ordinance with “all those amendments” in their entirety.
Gamroth moved to remove the landlord responsibility for delinquent tenant bills and maintain the status quo. Councilor Amber Pollock seconded Gamroth’s amendment to the already amended utility billing and collection bill. That motion failed in a 6–2 vote, with Gamroth and Pollock voting in favor. Cathey and Councilors Ray Pacheco, Brandy Haskins, Gena Jenkins, Michael Bond and Jai-Ayla Sutherland voted no to remove landlord responsibility.
Vice Mayor Lisa Engebretsen, a landlord and property manager, abstained from discussion and votes due to conflict of interest.
The council went on to approve the utility billing and collection ordinance on second reading in its original proposed version, again voting 6–2 with Cathey, Pacheco, Haskins, Jenkins, Bond and Sutherland in favor and Gamroth and Pollock opposed.
Pollock said she is open to changing her vote on third reading.
“I struggle with it philosophically,” the councilor said.
With “unease for some elements of this and support for other elements of this,” Pollock liked the idea of improving communication with landlords but at the same time expressed concerns about “downstream effects” the ordinance could have for tenants, especially if they have to pay a higher deposit on top of escalating rent costs when relocating.
Another concern for Pollock is that holding landlords responsible for delinquent tenant bills solves only half of the city’s overall problem.
“[The ordinance] doesn’t attend to the fact that half our delinquency comes from owners of properties,” Pollock said, noting ultimately two-thirds of the city’s write-offs come from tenants.
Pollock said perhaps other policies need to accompany the ordinance.
“I’m not feeling 100% comfortable with this, but I’m comfortable we need to address it so it doesn’t become a burden for the rest of the citizenry.”
Pacheco reiterated his support for the ordinance change, citing the council’s fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers rather than subsidizing landlords who benefit from capitalism.
“It’s incredibly important for us to make sure we’re safeguarding taxpayer dollars,” Pacheco said, adding he looks forward to making further comments during discussion on third reading.
Saying there is a lot of content in the ordinance to consider, Sutherland asked whether they could continue to discuss options at a work session.
“I’d really like to hear my colleagues’ concerns about homelessness,” she said, adding a belief local people favor limiting the role of government.
Prior to the council’s discussion and vote, the mayor invited public comment on the proposed utility billing and collections ordinance.
Ronna Boril, who said she’s been involved in Casper real estate since 1975, objected to the city charging a landlord for tenant debt.
She said she’s experienced all types of markets over almost 50 years, and questioned the city’s approach to collections.
“As a broker and businessman, you do what it takes to stay in business,” Boril said. “That includes managing your business to minimize your losses.”
This means having to “tighten up” business practices, Boril said.
“I would have loved to have a third party to turn around to and say, ‘Here, you take my losses. I don’t want to mess with them,’ but that’s not available to someone in private business.”
It seems the city’s problem of incurring large losses with utility collections is probably not a new problem, she said, adding perhaps the city should evaluate its own business practices before looking for an easy solution.
At the meeting, city staff reviewed their step-by-step approach to collections.
Patrick Sweeney also objected to placing responsibility on property owners. He suggested the city could afford to pay another person for additional collections or oversight through funds recouped by that extra effort. He also questioned why the ordinance would require businesses to supply articles of organization or similar entity documents.
“I don’t know if that’s really appropriate,” he said.
He questioned a number of changes, citing one section after another in the ordinance.
“As an owner, I’m really not saying I’m totally opposed,” Sweeney said. “Something has to give. There has to be some give and take on these types of ordinances.”
City Manager Carter Napier said the city dedicates “quite a bit of staff time chasing down these bad debts” and takes numerous steps to collect before turning accounts over to a collection agency.
“To suggest we don’t have any staff working on this would be in error,” Napier said. “Could we could hire more staff? Absolutely, but I’m not sure hiring more staff will bring a return in investment.”
Bond said he’s received a couple of emails saying the city will hold landlords retroactively responsible for bills.
Cathey said the action will not go into effect until the ordinance is passed on third reading and is published.
“So there are no retroactive charges to the landlords,” he said.
Asked by Cathey how other Natrona County municipalities collect for unpaid utilities, City of Casper Accounts Receivable Supervisor Brandy Coyle said Mills, Evansville and Bar Nunn let the bill remain in the tenant’s name, but when an account is delinquent, the debt stays with the property owner.
“If you have properties in any surrounding communities, you are already dealing with this process,” Cathey said.
Councilors first began evaluating proposed staff changes to the city’s utility billing and collections process months ago. Since September, they have revisited the issue over numerous meetings and work sessions.
Previous Oil City News stories with attached staff memos about the proposed amended City of Casper utility billing and collections ordinance are linked below. Scroll down further to read the proposed ordinance with changes red-lined.
(VIDEO) Landlords could bear more responsibility in proposed Casper utility changes
Casper moves toward paperless utility billing; councilors stress ease of access
Casper City Council to revisit utility billing and collection ordinance changes
Casper city officials to seek input tonight on changes to utility billing, collections
Casper city leaders advance law to assist in collections of unpaid utility bills
Casper City Council mulls pros, cons of making landlords pay delinquent tenant water bills
Casper City Council considers utility collections code on 2nd reading tonight
Casper City Council tables 2nd utility ordinance vote until Feb. 6
Casper City Council to further analyze utility bill collections at Tuesday work session
Casper City Council keeps utility billing, collections code intact for 2nd vote Feb. 6
Casper City Council to accept comment on utility billing, collections code changes tonight
