Town Council Work Session
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What is the proposed customer assistance program for utility customers facing financial hardship?
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
Let me call tonight's town council work session of January 8th. Welcome back, everyone. It's been a while since we've all been here. I hope everybody had a nice holiday, and we're back ready to work. So our first item for discussion tonight is the final assistance program for our utility customers. Mr. Martin.
Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you. If you remember before the break back in December, you all had asked for a discussion topic on exploring the possibilities of creating a customer assistance program for utility customers facing financial hardships and maybe having a hard time paying their bills. So staff has looked into this, gathered some preliminary information, and wanted to present that to you this evening and then see what direction you'd like to take with this. And you'll see that we do have a draft resolution prepared for your consideration should you want to take action tomorrow night at the regular session just by way of a little background here uh we'll talk about the total number of connections here with the town system just to give you some perspective on the sort of situations that we see with folks in financial distress so we've got 16 770 odd service accounts in the system of which we had 293 accounts last year turned off for their water service turned off and that represents a little less than two percent of the overall total accounts in the town
The average bill for an account that was closed off was just a little over $300, with a total outstanding balance of $89,000, roughly $90,000 in total outstanding monies. So, of course, with the nonpayment issue, financial hardship would be the largest consideration when you see that we have these shutoffs. But
other frequent issues that
are also reasons for, and I know we're getting a little tinny here, so I don't know if we could turn the mics down just a little bit, so don't annoy everyone. With the other frequent issues here, we do have customers just forget to make the payment or thought somebody else in the household made the payment or they had a change of payer, new folks moved in and forgot that they had to set up their utility account. Little things like that often can create these communication issues. and can be quickly resolved with our town support staff. Just wanted to fill you in a little bit on some of the support programs that are currently in place right now to assist our customers. The tiered rate structure is first and foremost the best way to get a low bill, and those are for those small households, households really practicing some good conservation measures.
You might be elderly, fixed incomes, small households. Again, if you're using less than 6,000 gallons per quarter, you're going to get the best rate for your water and sewer service. The town also, as you know, offers payment plans for customers who may be experiencing temporary financial hardship. So if they make that phone call to the town customer service staff, they can make those payment plans set up. And of course, the water will not be turned off. We also provide links to financial resources and support groups out there in the community, faith-based community groups, other nonprofits that can provide financial assistance. And that information is provided on our website. You can see here there's just a snapshot off of the town's utility pages there to provide some direction, some phone numbers, and some additional assistance through Loudoun County as well as those other nonprofits like Loudoun Cares in the community.
We also provide the same information on delinquency notices that get mailed to the homes on their bills and also be on door hangers that get provided when the shutoffs are soon to take place. You also see that the county and the town work together to provide additional financial relief. So if you're elderly and disabled and you're qualifying for real property discounts and personal property discounts at the county level, that's an automatic qualification for the town utility customers.
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Agenda
8 items
1
What is the proposed customer assistance program for utility customers facing financial hardship?
0:00β12:16
2
How does the town plan to fund and implement the new utility assistance program?
12:16β22:34
3
What are the key findings and recommendations of the 2024 utility rate study?
22:34β32:44
4
Why is a 4.1% rate increase being recommended and how does it affect the townβs finances?
32:44β44:30
5
What questions did council members raise about the rate increase and its impact on residents?
44:30β56:32
6
What are the proposed improvements and concerns for the South King Street/Routeβ―7 interchange?
56:32β1:08:19
7
How will the Loudoun County Routeβ―7 widening project affect the interchange and surrounding land use?
1:08:19β1:20:52
8
What actions are recommended for the Fort View Boulevard traffic and safety issues?
1:20:52β1:26:57
Speakers
7 identified
Neil Steinberg 12 min
Jennifer Canton 11 min
Kelly Burk 9 min
Michael R. Turner 7 min
Zach Cummings 5 min
Todd Cimino-Johnson 1 min
Kari Nacy 1 min
Officials recognised by voice; public commenters shown as βSpeaker Nβ unless they state their name.