by Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative
Council for the Town of Essex unanimously approved a revision to the Water/Wastewater Billing and Collection Policy, which included the elimination of tenants as primary account holders effective April 1, 2025.
On March 20th, 2023, Council issued notice to discontinue the use of ELK Energy Inc. as the subcontractor for water/wastewater billing. On January 1 of this year, the Town of Essex took over this service.
Kate Giurissevich, Director of Corporate Services/Treasurer, told Council at the October 7 meeting that prior to the Town of Essex taking on the billing function, Administration became aware of a complaint lodged to the Ombudsman regarding a landlord and tenant situation.
The landlord, Giurissevich explained, was unhappy about the lack of notice on utility arrears being added to his tax account or his ability to shut off water to his tenant.
“They identified some fairness concerns with the water and wastewater billing and collection practices and procedures here at the Town, as well as E.L.K. Energy, [which] was our previous subcontractor of this function,” Giurissevich said.
Before issuing recommendations, the Ombudsman did applaud the Town for the steps taken throughout this investigation to address these issues, prior to the findings being issued, Giurissevich added.
On January 15, Council adopted the Water/Wastewater Billing and Collection Policy to ensure proper authority and guidance for billing procedures. Giurissevich said that was a collaborative project with the Ombudsman that ensured its findings were incorporated into the policy.
“They state specifically in the letter that in particular they were pleased to see the Town’s policy appears to address the key fairness issues they identified,” she relayed, noting that was specifically related to notice to property owners of the property tax additions.
The findings from the Ombudsman referenced two best practices for review, one of which that property owners properly be notified of arrears.
Giurissevich noted that was addressed in the January 15 policy.
The other recommendation suggested the Town consider and investigate the practice of water disconnects at the instruction of landlords.
Administration has reviewed the potential of a landlord water disconnect policy, in addition to its potential benefits and implications, Giurissevich explained.
“A landlord disconnect policy, if properly drafted, could lead to sooner collection of arrears and avoid the transfer to the landlord account all together,” Giurissevich said.
There are, however, several operational impacts that need to be considered.
Water disconnect, from the Infrastructure Department’s perspective, takes a large portion of staff time in an already limited staff count. A charge could be implemented for the shut off, however, it is still staff time. Ultimately, if the tenant continues not to pay, it would end up on the landlord’s taxes.
This could also put staff into confrontational and difficult situations, Giurissevich added. That could also include not giving vulnerable citizens, like the elderly or children, access to water at the instruction of a landlord and citizen dispute.
If the Town wanted to explore this policy, Giurissevich suggested looking at the limitation performed when dealing with electricity, which only shuts off access for half the year, as it is considered a basic need.
In looking at other regional municipalities, it appears the majority do not have a disconnect policy specifically geared towards landlords. They perform, what Town of Essex staff was recommending, the elimination of tenant accounts in their Water Collection Policy.
In looking at the matter, Giurissevich said it appears the issue is that landlords are often not aware of tenant arrear balances, and they lack the ability to access the account.
“Because of privacy concerns, we can’t allow them vision on the account.”
Tenant accounts, she added, make up around 30% each month of the arrears added to tax accounts.
That results in additional printing cost for the Town in issuing notices, as well as additional administration time.
With all that considered, Giurissevich said Administration recommended the elimination of primary tenant accounts, effective April 1 of 2025.
This, she said, would be done carefully, with direct mail-outs to all landlords and tenants. Landlords would be able to include a tenant on their account as secondary, if they wished. They could direct the bill to the tenant, as well.
“Administration believes this is the first step to the solution in the issues raised in the Ombudsmen’s letter, which included the lack of visibility on accounts and consumption, the lack of knowledge on the account balance, and the lack of control over the account in general,” Giurissevich said.
She anticipates this will result in a net cost-savings of $1150 per year.
Water disconnects could be investigated if that first step does not work, Giurissevich added.
In answering Councillor Joe Garon’s question, Giurissevich said there are around 1000 tenant accounts as far as Administration can tell, compared to around 7000 total water accounts.
Garon likes the approach, as it will be in the best interest of the landlords. He believed, however, this will be more work than what is anticipated.
He was not sure why the Town could not complete a simple water disconnect policy as the cost of the landlord.
Rob Mackie, Manager of Environmental Services, noted water disconnects has become a touchy, confrontational situation over the last few years.
It also takes up a lot of staff resources, as two staff members are sent to complete that work.
Garon later added if someone does not pay their hydro bill, it gets shut off, or if someone does not pay for their vehicles, it gets repossessed.
“We are not in the charity business. That is all I am going to say about it,” he said. He supported the change as he wanted to get the landlords on the accounts.
“I’ll be honest, over the last few years – pretty much since the pandemic – we have just noticed that everything has become a lot more confrontational with the public, and the increase in the confrontations that we are having,” Mackie said.
There is also the potential for landlords to abuse the water disconnect policy, he added.
Deputy Mayor Rob Shepley believes the Town is on the right track. He believes shutting off water would be a tricky thing to do, as it is essential all-year round. That may have to come eventually, but this path Administration recommended is a start in the right direction, so landlords have all the information they need.
Councillor Kim Verbeek noted the purpose of bringing the billing in house was to address concerns on customer service. Any kind of water shut off should be a very last option.
Tenants change, she added. She said it will be a daunting task, but if the information is to protect landowners, many may voluntarily come to the Town to incorporate that change.
Giurissevich believes this change will not be as big of a task as some Councillors believe. The Town is in contact with many landlords, as tenant accounts make up 30% of the arrears. There is just no policy for the Town to add them as the primary account holder.
The Town also has all of their primary mailing addresses, and many already want to make this change.