New city employee hired to collect debts
A City of Gallup Collection Field Representative turns off the water at a residence Stagecoach Road on Thursday afternoon. Recently the city has been collecting past due amounts on utility bills at a rate higher than the national average. — © 2008 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Kevin Killough
Staff writer

GALLUP — Delinquent bills in the city’s collections department came to a total of $1,492,971.68, as of the end of July. Despite the high figure, the city’s collection rate is above the national average. Still, City Clerk Alfred Abeita said that he continues to go after delinquent accounts. Keeping positions filled in the collections department has been a difficult task, and at one point at the beginning of the year, the department was short nearly half its staff.

Most recently, the City Council voted for a budget approval that will create a new collections supervisor position. City Manager Gerald Herrera told the mayor and council that the clerk’s office was so bogged down with collections duties that it was interfering with the official duties of the office. The new position will shift some of the collections management tasks away from Abeita and make sure that the collection process is efficient and effective.