BEAUMONT, Texas — Beaumont residents may see a water rate increase next week after the city's decision to write-off thousands of dollars in unpaid water bills for commercial businesses to help with the city's budget.
The city is having a difficult time collecting water bills from some commercial businesses and leaders say the rate hike is to help battle inflation.
Beaumont's Chief Financial Officer told 12News that any water bill over $1,000 is marked as "unlikely to be recovered."
Even after the city writes-off the unpaid water bills, collection efforts will continue.
City leaders say the main reason why they're having a hard time collecting unpaid water bills is because when some businesses changed ownership, the previous owner left a big bill that the new owner refused to pay.
Beaumont Chief Financial Officer, Cheryl Ray, says in order to "balance their budget," residents will see an increase in their water bill.
Water rates will increase by four percent and sewer rates will increase by eight percent. Residents will see an additional monthly charge of $1.75 for solid waste.
"The water and sewer rate increases, we didn't just decide on those unilaterally," said Ray. "We hired a consultant to help us decide what the optimum rate is, so that we can maintain our system properly."
The decision to increase water rates is also the city's attempt to battle inflation.
"Everything is increasing in cost these days, and that applies to the city as well," said Ray.
The city-wide water rate increase is scheduled to take effect on Tuesday.
"We are having to go up, unfortunately, a little bit on our water and sewer rates, but most people won't see more than maybe a $5 increase in their bill," said Ray.
Beaumont is trying to "balance their books" by writing-off nearly $70,000 in the unpaid water bills for commercial businesses.
"The amount that we're writing-off is only .54 percent of our revenues for water and sewer," said Ray.
City Councilmember at-large Randy Feldschau says he's among the leaders holding the city accountable.
"Originally, I was concerned about the write-offs for the businesses, the commercial accounts," said Feldschau.
He says the write-offs are a standard accounting practice and after some businesses changed ownership, the previous owners left a big bill.
"I've come to understand, since then, that those two accounts that I mentioned have actually changed hands," said Feldschau. "They've gone to other companies, and that's why the city was having a very difficult time collecting those monies."
The city is now left with the task of cleaning up the books.
"Even though we write them off on our books, they're still actually on the accounts," said Ray. "So, if someone were to come back in and try to reset service, we collect that money at that time, so you can't start a new account and still owe the city money."
If you are behind on your water bill, you can contact the city and request a payment plan.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.