The Knox City Council this week realized they will need to make some changes to their water services policy, as it was brought to the attention of the council that the city sends, on average, 200 water disconnect notices per month. Tack on a cost of more than $5 for each certified letter, and that adds up to an expense of more than $1000 per month to remind customers to pay their bills.
The council discussed the possibility of charging a water disconnect notice fee, which would charge a small amount to the landowner to cover the cost of mailing the notice. Mayor Rick Chambers explained that North Judson charges $8 per notice and $50 to reconnect the service after it has been disconnected. However, Knox only charges $25 for reconnection and does not have a fee in place for disconnect notices.
The council will review a policy draft at their next meeting on Dec. 11.
Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston also suggested allowing landlords with multiple rental properties to only be required to pay the city one deposit total, instead of deposits for each property. Houston said he doesn’t want to make a large amount of red tape for landlords with multiple properties, and said he would like to see a system in place to allow them to make a single blanket deposit. The council will likely discuss that option further at their next meeting.
