Legislative Correspondence HF 783City Manager's Office
City Hall
50 West 13'h Street
Dubuque, IA 5200111864
(563) 589-4110 phone
(563) 58911149 fax
(563) 690-6678 TDD
ctymgr@cityofdubuque.org
April 9, 2007
VIA E-Mail and
1St Class Mail
«CompleteOFFICIALName Address»
RE: HF 783 Water Liens
Dear «Title» «Last»:
THE CITY OF
~~s ~
The City of Dubuque is opposed to any bill which limits the City's ability to collect
delinquent utility accounts. The proposed legislation basically removes any
responsibility from the landlord or property owner. Changes may be costly to implement
and cause severe implications on collection efforts.
We need to keep an open dialogue with landlords on the status of rental properties.
The landlord/property owner is the most critical resource for the City, relative to the
rental status of properties.
Dubuque currently has approximately 2,600 residential rental buildings which include
7,700 units. According to current utility billing records, there are 5,400 tenants in rental
properties that are responsible for their utility bills. The remaining 2,300 units are billed
to the property owners. With 20,000 current residential customers in utility billing, 27%
of the customers are rental related.
The City of Dubuque bills tenants monthly. If tenants do not pay after repeated
collection efforts, future bills revert to property owner or service is discontinued. We do
not currently bill property owners for past charges incurred by tenants.
Dubuque's location in the tri-state area may result in delinquent tenants relocating to
neighboring states. By exempting landlords from lien provisions, the City's collection
efforts could be negatively impacted. Without all current collection opportunities, the
City may be forced to require that utility services are always billed to the property owner,
or increasing deposit requirements for all customers. Increased costs for collection
efforts and defaults ultimately increase rates for all our city customers.
Service People Integrity Responsibility Innovation
Title» « First» « Last»
Page 2
Thank you for your consideration
Sincerely,
/~~
Michael C. Van Milligen
City Manager
MCVM:kt
Service People Integrity Responsibility Innovation Teamwork
The Honorable Pat Murphy
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The Honorable Rich Olive
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