Tuesday, March 07, 2000
Newport mayor uneasy over water bill proposal
Responsibility may shift to landlords
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEWPORT — Mayor Tom Guidugli voiced concern Monday night over a proposed change in the city water works rules and regulations that would place all water service bills in the name of a landlord rather than a tenant.
“At this point, I'm not in favor of this change,” the mayor said during a discussion of updates in the water works regulations at the regular city commission meeting.
“When we went with the rule to allow tenants to have water billings in their names, the idea was to make the tenants more responsible for the property they were renting,” Mr. Guidugli said. “This is a big change, a big move.”
Water works director Frank Peluso, who is also city clerk, said the change in billing was proposed to eliminate some clerical work through fewer water service applications and fewer delinquencies, thereby providing water works employees more time to perform preventive maintenance on the system.
“The main problem we have now, with water bills in tenants' names, is the inability to gain access to individual units for shutoffs,” he said. “We have to shut off the water for the entire building, which denies water service to tenants in other units.”
Commissioner Ken Rechtin pointed out that other utilities, such as Cinergy, the telephone compa nies and the cable companies, don't hold a landlord responsible for unpaid bills of each tenant in a building.
Commissioner Beth Fennell said she wasn't comfortable with the proposed change. “I don't think every landlord should be made to take responsibility for every tenant's bills.”
Mr. Guidugli said that because this was “a major change in procedure, I think we need to discuss this thoroughly and definitely get this information out to the public before we actually do anything.”
City Manager Phil Ciafardini said he and Mr. Peluso would provide additional information for the commissioners at a future meeting.
“This is obviously still in the discussion stage,” he said. “It was approved by the water board, but the final decision to adopt changes lies with the commission.”
Other recommended changes were:
• Raising the fee for turning water service on after a shutoff because of a delinquent bill from $25 to $35.
• Raising the late payment penalty from 10 percent to 15 percent.
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