Who doesn't pay utility bills?

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Over the years, the city of Gallup has been generous in not going after families in town who have serious medical problems and can not pay their utility bills.

On Tuesday, City Manager Eric Honeyfield said that there are some families out there that are abusing the city's generosity and it may be time for the city to take a stand.

This all began many years ago when the Public Regulatory Commission passed a rule that said utility companies cannot shut off the electricity for people, for example, who are in an iron lung, because that would basically be a death sentence.

This was not supposed to give these families a free ride, but allow them to have the time to raise the funds to bring their electric bills up to date.

But gradually, as people began learning of this policy, it somehow evolved into a policy that families in this situation did not have to pay their electric bill and the city found it harder and harder to collect.

It's become such a problem, said Honeyfield, that a man recently submitted a letter from his doctor asking for a waiver for utility payments because he had arthritis.

Enough is enough, said Honeyfield. "We have to put a stop to this."

When families start feeling that they should be exempt from paying their electric or utility bill, it becomes a problem, he said. "It's poor business when some people have to pay and others don't," he said.

This discussion came up Monday during discussions by the city council over next year's budget, and Honeyfield said he brought it to the council's attention because he needed their support to start cracking down on the abuse.

"This issue isn't going away," he said, adding that "no good municipal deed goes unpunished."

The council is expected to address this problem at a future council meeting.

Speaking of utility rates, Allan Landavaso brought up his concerns about the rates that the city charges low-income families and senior citizens and wondered if there was a way for the city to allow utility customers to show their generosity.

He pointed out that the Public Service Company of New Mexico has a program that allows its customers to donate a little money each montj to help pay for the bills of those families who, for one reason or another, just cannot afford to pay the bill.

If PNM can do it, why can't the city, he asked.

The city could do it, said Assistant City Manager Larry Brinkley. In fact, the city did do it on two separate occasions and the response was so low that the program was abandoned.

The city created a program called Gallup Cares, and offered city users a chance to donate to the program to help families who, because of a medical emergency or loss of a job, could not afford to pay their utility bill.

Families who were eligible were given up to $300 in credit over a six-month period on their bills and the city put some $10,000 into the kitty to make the payments, thinking the money would come back through donations to Gallup Cares.

That did not happen. Instead, so little money came into the program from Gallup Cares that the city had to use money raised from people paying penalties and interest to provide enough funds to pay out the utility payments.

And while the PNM program was good, since the company matched people's donations dollar for dollar, Brinkley said the city program turned out to be even better, since for every 10 cents people donated, the city was donating 90 cents.