2006RUS

In the town of Cody, Wyoming, 219 utility accounts were sent to collection. Only four of the bills belonged to property owners. Some are thinking that the city believes that holding property owners are responsible for utility costs that their renters left unpaid. A policy like that could have added $180,000 to the city budget during the past five years, and furthermore, other utility users are subsidizing those that do not pay their bills.

Landlords are offering obvious and swift objection, wondering why it should be their job to pay a bill that somebody else was responsible for. Another plan has been suggested however, one that would require a deposit from every person opening up a utility account.

This change in policy would involve a number of modifications like a requirement that a property owner co-sign for a renter’s account. Tenants would be billed under their own account but have an open landlord account for each property. Unpaid bills would be transferred to the landlord’s account if the tenant doesn’t pay.

Deposit requirements would go from $150 to $200, and would be necessary for all accounts, regardless of their past credit history. Property owners would be notified of delinquencies, and they would be encouraged to get in touch with the city to determine if the bill got paid before returning rental deposits. All property owners would have to keep utilities in their names.

People who support the plan claim that it isn’t out of line with what other cities are doing, and it is a simpler and more cost efficient way to collect money. Collection agencies receive about one third of what they collect in the city, and 60 percent of bills that go to collection remain unpaid.

Whatever decision they come to, it should be fast: city officials are noticing a trend toward less people making deposits and more accounts being sent to collection agencies.

Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery solution, a credit collection agency. Our aim is to collect as much of your money as possible.