Rialto City Council
Automatic Payment Plan
Program for Water and
Wastewater Customers
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Presented by:
Thomas J. Crowley, P.E. – Utilities Manager
August 9, 2022
Background
•March 2020 - City Council Declared a
Local Emergency to the COVID-19
outbreak.
•April 2020 – Governor of California issued
an emergency order establishing a
moritorium on all water shut-offs.
•April 2020 – City Council adopted the
moritorium on water shut-offs. Also
stopped assessing late payment penalties
and interest on water and sewer bills.
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Background (cont.)
•The Governor of California issues another
Executive Order that would allow the water
shut-off moritorium to expire at the end of
September 2021.
•SB 155 postponed the moritorium to
expire at the end of December 2021, and
longer if customers have been offered
payment plans.
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Water and Wastewater Arrearages Trends
Delinquent Amounts (Residential and
Commercial)
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Water and Wastewater Arrearages Trends
Number of Delinquent Accounts (Residential
and Commercial)
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Water and Wastewater Arrearages Trends
•Before the start of the COVID-19
pandemic there were 2,369 delinquent
accounts totaling $500,652.
•As of the end of June 2022 delinquent
balances increased to $1.6 million with
2,627 accounts remaining delinquent.
•Delinquency balance increase by $1.1
million, approximately 193%.
•Quantity of delinquent accounts only
increased by 10.8%, 258 accounts.
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SWRCB Arrearages Program
• City submitted two separate applications to
the SWRCB for the Water and Wastewater
Arrearages program.
• City received $383,280 for Water Arrearages.
Amounts were applied to customers who had
arrearage that were accumulated from March
2020 through June 15, 2021 and were 60-
days and older.
• City received $525,885 for Wastewater
Arrearages – same method was used as for
the Water Arrearages.
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Automatic Payment Plan
•Automatically enroll customers on a
payment plan with past due amounts of 90
days or greater.
•12-month payment plan.
•Customers have an opt-out provision by
paying in full.
•Customers can apply any relief programs
to their payment plans.
•Payment plan amount will be added to the
monthly bill.
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Automatic Payment Plan (cont.)
•RWS to monitor the payment plan
program and report back to the City.
•Customer can request for a longer
payment plan period.
•If customer choose not to participate in the
payment plan and not pay their
outstanding amounts, shut off process will
begin, January 2023.
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Automatic Payment Plan Schedule
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Questions
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