Laserfiche WebLink
oar <br />Departmental Item <br />Indian River County, Florida <br />Department of Utility Services <br />Board Memorandum <br />Date: September 21, 2022 <br />To: Jason E. Brown, County Administrator <br />From: Sean C. Lieske, Director of Utility Services <br />Prepared By: Cindy Corrente, Utility Finance Manager <br />Subject: Utility Accounts Receivable Bad Debt Follow -Up and Potential Foreclosure Activity <br />Background and Analysis: <br />On March 9, 2021, a public hearing took place that resulted in modifications to County Code Section <br />201.22 that pertained to payment and collections of certain utility bills. These modifications set forth a <br />specific time period during which staff was given authorization to waive some, or all, penalties and <br />interest on certain past -due utility accounts and to make payment arrangements for settlement of said <br />accounts. Modifications to code also included language that provided staff with the authorization to <br />seek final settlement, or ultimately foreclosure, for any accounts that remained unsettled. <br />The most significant waivers went to owners who made settlement before June 14, 2021. The table <br />below represents the information for those account holders. The amount of $582,507.76 was written off <br />to bad debt in the 2020-2021 fiscal year (FY). <br />Account Type <br />Number of <br />Settlements <br />Total Cash Collected <br />Total Penalties & <br />Interest Waived <br />Water & Sewer <br />48 <br />$120,751.14 <br />$483,239.40 <br />Impact Fee Loans <br />5 <br />$ 22,353.66 <br />$ 19,491.63 <br />Assessments <br />54 <br />$127,663.08 <br />$ 79,776.73 <br />Totals <br />107 <br />$270,767.88 <br />$582,507.76 <br />The second most significant waivers went to owners who signed payment agreements promising to <br />settle their remaining balances by May 22, 2022. Twenty-seven owners signed agreements. Nine of <br />those actually made payment ahead of time and before June 14, 2021, and thus are accounted for in last <br />year's write off. Fifteen of them kept the agreements this fiscal year. The table below represents the <br />breakdown of the agreements that owners kept. Although three agreements were broken, staff is <br />continuing to work with those owners since ultimately the goal is to settle rather than foreclose. These <br />three owners have been making progress towards settling their debt. <br />Account Type <br />Number of Total Cash Collected <br />Accounts Settled <br />Total Penalties & <br />Interest Waived <br />Water & Sewer <br />6 $27,255.16 <br />$ 86,953.65 <br />Assessments <br />9 $65,774.05 <br />$ 35,116.03 <br />Totals <br />15 $93,029.21 <br />$122,069.68 <br />134 <br />F:\Utilities\00_UTI1_ITY -AGENDA TEMPLATE & GUI DELI NES\2022 Agenda Item s\100422 BCC Agenda Items\Bad Debt\Agenda AR Summary Oct <br />2022.doc <br />