The Water Bureau Customer Services Group is responsible for the collection of City utility billings including payment for those services provided by the Bureau of Environmental Services. More than 5,000 City utility accounts have been established exclusively for waste and stormwater. These accounts are referred to as “sewer only” accounts.
Some “sewer only” customers fail to pay for the services provided and as a “sewer only” account the City has limited options available for collection of these obligations, because sewer is one utility the City can’t turn off.
The Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 454.225 recognizes the difficulties that may arise when recovering delinquent balances for this type of account. ORS 454.225 allows for the certification and transfer of delinquent balances to the County Assessor to be billed and collected as part of the County tax collection process. Transferring these delinquent “sewer only” balances to the Multnomah County Assessor will result in the recovery of more than $350,000 in qualifying delinquencies.
Posted by: SO
