Residents can now pay utility bills online through the City’s website

I don’t know about you, but I am so glad to see the sunshine after all of the rain recently.  

 I felt like my toes would begin to web if the wet weather continued too much longer. 

 As many of you are aware, the city is beginning to move into the 21st century. 

 By that I mean that you can now go online at the City’s website, https://cityofweiser.net, and set up an account to pay your utility bills online. 

 To set the account up, you will need your utility bill account number. When entering the account number from your statement, do not include the periods. 

 You can set it up to automatically pay whatever amount the bill is. In another option, you can view the bill and then decide when to pay during the pay period. If you are late, you will receive three emails reminding you of the payment. 

 You can set it up on level pay to have the same amount deducted each month. You can pay from your checking, savings, debit, or credit card. In other words, you have several choices. You are in control, and it is very convenient. 

 For those of you who continue to pay your city utility bill offline with cash, check, or card you will want to pay attention to this next item. 

 Back when COVID-19 first struck, businesses closed their doors and all, but essential service businesses and workers, stayed home. 

 At that time, the City of Weiser suspended all utility shut-offs and discontinued collecting late fees. When people were delinquent, we called them individually and worked with them. If they needed assistance, we pointed them in the direction of COVID relief services meant to help people during the pandemic. 

 Since then, the City has gradually reinstated the collection policies as per the City Code. 

 The City Code states that the city utility bills will be sent out in two cycles each month, depending on where you live in town, one on the first and one on the 15th. If your bill is sent on the first, it will be due on the 15th.  

 Likewise, if your bill is sent on the 15th it will be due on the first. After the due date, the bill is delinquent. If the bill becomes 5 days delinquent, the power and water is shut off without further notice as per the code until the bill is paid in full. 

 We now are assessing late fees and shutting off services. 

 The only thing which is still held over from the pandemic procedures is that we continue to call prior to shutting off the service. 

 At first, I was in favor of amending the City Code to allow the city to call prior to shutting off services. However, the list of people who tend to wait until the city calls to pay their bill typically exceeds 100 per cycle. This means that City workers are having to spend the better part of two days each month calling people and keeping track of their responses. The list tends to be many of the same people each month who wait until they get a call to pay their bill. 

 Beginning with the Feb. 15 cycle, the city will go back to no longer calling individuals prior to shutting off services. 

 You might think that maybe the city should only call those people who are normally on time each month. However, there are two reasons this is not a good option. One is that the city cannot show favoritism to some people over others. The second is that the time saved by not calling everyone would be wasted in looking up accounts to see who normally pays and who doesn’t. 

 For those who still need regular assistance in paying their utility bills, there are several programs to assist with this need. Just call City Hall at (208) 414-1965 and we will direct you to those who can help. 

 If you have a one-time situation where you will temporarily be late, again call City Hall and we will be more than happy to work with you.  

 In other City business, the city crews are back out picking up leaves. If you park on the street, please do not park on the leaves so that the crews do not have to make multiple attempts to get all of the piles. Your attention to where you park will be greatly appreciated by the guys!

 Well, that’s it for this week. I hope you are wintering well! See you again next week!