The Examiner’s coverage of the Sept. 17 Beaumont City Council meeting, which followed adopting a budget that would increase utility bills, highlighted the council’s decision to write off more than $60,000 in commercial and personal unpaid water bills, brought the city’s collection process under examination.
The discussion of alternative collection strategies sparked a lively debate within the council. Councilmember Taylor Neild, familiar with some of the businesses involved, suggested turning the accounts over to the city’s legal team for potential collection.
Councilmember Randy Feldschau voiced the concern of many Beaumont residents, questioning why well-known commercial entities were allowed to default on their bills.
Of the more than $91,000 in unpaid water bills classified by the city’s finance department – also the department in charge of water customer service – as “uncollectible” were several business accounts, whose owners went on record with The Examiner stating they had no knowledge of the alleged outstanding balances.
Excluded from being written off, as recommended by the city manager, were accounts for Lucite International for $1,703.12, attributed to a November 2022 disconnection, and ALH Properties, the former owner of the Best Western Jefferson Inn, for two accounts totaling $9,410.21.
Also excluded was an account for Knife River in the amount of $1,311.90 for disconnection at 2155 Seventh St. commercial location on Jan. 6, 2023. Although the “uncollectible” report included the business phone number, Senior Accounting Clerk Celia Rivera with Knife River said she never once received a phone call or correspondence from the city of Beaumont regarding an outstanding debt for unpaid water bills.
According to Rivera, whose job at the time of the alleged debt accumulation was paying the company’s nine water accounts before the company sold to Modern Concrete, Knife River’s policy upon the sale was to pay any and all utility bills – even following the transfer of the company – and they would subse- quently back bill Modern Concrete for the expense.
“We gave them some grace to get things switched over and kept paying all the bills as they came in,” said Rivera, who added that, to this day, Knife River employs a remote worker to check the company’s Beaumont Post Office box and forward the mail as soon as it arrives.
“If I had known about this, I would have said, ‘Send us the bill,’ and it would have been paid out that week,” said Rivera.
The final excluded account from the write-off belonged to Beaumont Housing Authority, with two accounts totaling $9,951.85 stemming from a disconnection dated March 14, 2023. With more than 18 months to collect, Beaumont Housing Authority Vice President of Corporate Communications Jennifer Gregory reported, the agency never received a single phone call or letter to collect the outstanding debt.
Upon learning of the debt through the Sept. 17 city council meeting, Beaumont Housing Authority (BHA) CEO Allison Landrum emailed the city manager, assistant city manager and all council members to notify them that the owner of Northridge Manor was the actual debtor of the bills attributed to BHA.
“I’m not sure why these two bills are listed under BHA’s name — we are not receiving those bills; they are likely going to the owner,” Landrum shared with the city administrators and elected officials. “Therefore, we were completely unaware that the property had a delinquency, or we definitely would’ve cleared the confusion up when it occurred.”
According to Gregory, the sole response BHA received from the mass email was from Councilman Mike Getz: “He said he wasn’t surprised that it was the city’s issue and not us.”
“Our accountant went to the water office the next day, asking to see the bill, and they could not find it,” Gregory said, adding that staff was again going to follow up to check the status of alleged bad debt attributed to the housing authority.
Gregory said that, if the burden falls on BHA because the city says they didn’t turn off the water, the housing authority will pay it.
“We always want to pay our debts and we’re always on time with our payments,” Gregory said, still unsure if BHA even owes said debt. “We had no idea.
“If they would’ve called, we would have rectified this immediately … I hope that calling people is part of their collection process.”
“I have received numerous communications from constituents over the recent article in The Examiner concerning the city of Beaumont recently ‘writing off’ over $60,000 in delinquent water bills,” Getz wrote in an email to Beaumont City Manager Kenneth Williams on Sept. 30. “I understand that ‘writing off’ is not the same as forgiving a delinquent bill, but the general public does not, and I think that needs to be made clear in a workshop.”
Getz further inquired as to the city’s collection process for the unpaid water bills, asking “What efforts do they make to collect? How does the process work? Do they simply send out a single letter and if no response, do they refer it back to the city to ‘write off,’” asked Getz. “When they come across a delinquent account and the account holder is no longer at that location, do they attempt to skip trace the delinquent account holder?”
Williams responded to Getz that he had previously informed the council that this would be brought back as an agenda item and that his questions would be addressed when the info is compiled and/or addressed during the agenda item. Williams stated he would target the second meeting in October for this item. While Williams’ answer has yet to be revealed, the answer The Examiner uncovered from multiple businesses accused of not paying their debts is, “No, not even a phone call.”
Although cities in Texas are legally permitted to place liens on properties with certain limitations, the city of Beaumont does not have an ordinance adopted to allow for such, Communication Director Tracy Kennick advised.
Among the “uncollectible accounts” the city agreed to write off were numerous personal accounts, several exceeding $2,000 and some with bills as high as $2751.83, although the city of Beaumont states that its policy is to disconnect service shortly after bills become delinquent.
The next meeting of the Beaumont City Council is slated for Oct. 15, and citizens who pay their utility bills can expect to see a 4% increase in water, an 8% increase in sewer, and an additional $1.75 charge for solid waste on their October bills released later that same week.