Landlord water billing ordinance voted down

As city councilors and city staff have said publicly in the past, it’s not unusual for city residents to sound off against proposed changes until the very last minute or even after the fact.

This happened again on Feb. 18 as the Columbia Falls City Council prepared to vote on a second and final reading for an ordinance that would put water bills in the name of landlords and not tenants.

City manager Susan Nicosia was not surprised by the strong opposition that showed up at the last minute — she had witnessed landlord opposition to a similar measure in 2004.

“I noted at the last meeting it was too quiet,” she said.

Recognizing that this was a significant change to the city code, Nicosia had staff send out a notice to the city’s 290 landlords letting them know about the proposed change.

“I didn’t want to see a barrage of letters after the ordinance was passed,” she said.

Nicosia noted that the request for the change came from the city’s utility billing staff. While landlords are ultimately responsible for water bills, arrangements were made in 2004 giving them flexibility in how billing could be set up, including whether tenants must post a deposit.

The result has been headaches for billing staff, who often aren’t told when tenants come and go, sometimes leaving behind unpaid bills.

“The city spends a lot of time managing the landlords’ accounts,” Nicosia said.

Landlords who wrote to the city cited a number of points in opposition to the ordinance, from fairness to economic impacts.

“This proposal places responsibility and liability for water bills (including delinquent ones) directly on my shoulders as a landlord instead of where it belongs — on the actual user of water/sewer service,” Stephen Haymond said.

Haymond, who owns four rental units, also noted that “this proposal greatly increases the time and trouble required of me as a landlord to track and bill water usage of my tenants,” which he said is better handled by the city with its “stream-lined billing system.”

Robert and Helen Babbitt said they rent their home because they can’t sell it under current economic conditions.

“This is not fair to put this burden on the homeowner,” they said. “The city can charge a deposit like other towns to cover any nonpaid bills.”

Julia Hoerner warned that landlords might raise rents higher than necessary to cover unexpected water bills.

“If renters don’t have the responsibility for the amount they pay, the renters will not have accountability to not use as much water,” she said. “Not only will it be difficult on tenants and owners, it will cause water waste and affect the environment.”

Nathan Wehrman warned that the additional overhead costs for landlords might lead to fewer developers willing to build new housing in Columbia Falls.

“Once again, this will drive down growth and the overall population for Columbia Falls,” he said.

Nicosia recommended the council not approve the ordinance and bring the matter back for more discussion. Among the alternatives is to use software to send bills to both tenants and landlords so landlords could be aware of what’s going on. Another alternative is to charge all tenants a deposit. The current deposit is $250, which Nicosia and several councilors agreed seemed too high.

The city council unanimously voted down the ordinance.