5.1. ERMUSR 05-12-2015 >1..*Elk River
Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Theresa Slominski—Finance and Office
John Dietz, Chair Manager
Allan Nadeau, Vice-Chair
Daryl Thompson, Trustee
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
May 12, 2015 5.1
SUBJECT:
First Quarter Delinquent Items
BACKGROUND:
First quarter delinquent items are presented for your review. We have previously reported on
four different categories of delinquents as follows:
• Assessments are delays in collecting the money owed and is assessed to the property
taxes in the fall.
• Collections amounts are those we send to the collection agency to try and collect after
we have exhausted all our internal collection efforts.
• Revenue Recapture (RR) is the program through the state where funds are collected
from individuals' tax refunds and remitted to us, with the balance (if any)remitted to
the individual. It presents an opportunity to collect funds rather than resorting to a
collection agency or having to write them off completely.
• Write Offs are amounts removed from the books with no further collection efforts
being extended.
DISCUSSION:
Previously, we were able to provide a report individually identifying each of the customers'
written off. This was not the ideal report to present because of its volume and limitations of
customer data per State Statute 13.685, but it was the only report we had and we made it work.
We are still working with NISC to create a process for writing off accounts that separates those
for assessment in the fall, and those submitted to revenue recapture. (We have a quote from
NISC of$1,800 to create this for us. In addition to that, we will work with NISC to create reports
for internal use and commission presentation.) In the interim, this process is entirely manual,but
please note that it is still occurring.
I have included for review the color-coded recap comparisons with last year, identifying the four
categories and the running totals. When comparing the far right totals columns for 2014 and
2015, note that we have a larger amount for 2015. The difference is in the amounts for RR,
P O W E R E D B Y
NATURE
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because the prior year amount is reduced by amounts collected and we are only showing
amounts submitted for the current year(so the comparative numbers are skewed.) I am happy to
report that life-to-date numbers for RR show that we have submitted a total of$263,883.02 and
have collected $155,265.40. That's a 60%return and a great collection rate!
There are currently no amounts listed for assessments (and there was not in the first quarter of
2014 either). This process is actually only done once a year, in the fourth quarter. As we create
our process with NISC we hope to be able to identify these amounts for you throughout the year.
Currently, all services—so even those assessable services of sewer, water, and trash—are
submitted with the amounts to RR in the hopes that they will be collected. If they are not
collected by assessment time, they will be removed from RR and assessed instead.
The amounts for Write-Offs is a credit, meaning we have actually collected more than we have
written off. We removed a total of$5,435.91 but collected$5,907.71, for the net($471.80)
presented.
Our budgeted amount for collections and write-offs are $105,000, or.30%uncollectible accounts
per revenue dollar. According to APPA's most recent published standard ratios (2012), the
industry standard is between.10%and .41%. Our write-offs for the year are well below this
number, at a negative amount currently.
ACTION REQUESTED:
Staff recommends that the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission accept this delinquent
amounts listing for the first quarter of 2015.
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Delinquent Items
2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014 2015 2014
Quarter Assessments Assessments Collection Agency Collection Agency Revenue Recapture Revenue Recapture Write-Offs Write-Offs Totals Totals
First - - 1,037.74 17,949.58 6,455.59 (471.80) 354.20 17,477.78 7,847.53
YTD Total - - 1,037.74 17,949.58 6,455.59 (471.80) 354.201
Second 2,623.01 8,250.15 - (5,650.54) 2,582.99 I - I 7,805.611
tTDTstal 2,623.01 - 9,287.89 - 805.05 - 2,937.19
Third - 232.79 252.08 - 13,48504 351.001 - I 14,320.911
9TDTotal - 2,855.80 - 9,539.97 - 14,290.09 - 3,288.19
Fourth I 19.10 928.20 - 4,745.56 2,520.43 - _ 8,213.29
YTD Total - 2,874.90 - 10,468.17 - 19,035.65 - 5,808.62 17,477.78 38,187.34 GRAND TOTALS
Less RR 17,949.58 19,035.65
Less Assessments - 2,874.90
Totals excluding RR&Assessments (471.80) 16,276.79
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