S. Illinois district gets tough with late bills

Public water district customers racked up $1,200 bills.

Officials in a southern Illinois water district have started turning off the faucets of the 6 to 7 percent of its customers who don't pay their water bills, changing from a more lax policy in the past.

Darla Matlock, secretary for the McClure-East Cape Girardeau Public Water District, said between 25 and 30 customers had bills overdue by three months -- the deadline for the district to shut off the water. The district serves 429 customers in Reynoldsville, Ill., Gale, Ill., McClure, Ill., and East Cape Girardeau, Ill.

Most of the customers eventually paid up, but the district ended up having to cut off water to 10 customers last week, two of whom later paid their bills and had their water turned back on again. Matlock said the district deals with this problem -- often with the same people -- every month.

When she started working for the water district in January, Matlock said, she found that the district had not been following some rules and regulations governing overdue bills. Many customers had not paid for water in months, but the district had not cut off their service. Matlock said some bills were so large she was unsure just how far back they went back.

"I had bills of 700 bucks or 1,200 bucks, and when you think bills are usually $25 to $30 a month, depending on the size of the family, then that's forever," she said.

In Cape Girardeau, water is shut off after bills are two months overdue. Each month, this happens to an average of 150 to 175 of the city's 15,500 customers or about 1 percent.

In Jackson, water and electric utilities are combined, but only about 20 customers out of 6,400 have their utilities shut off monthly because of overdue bills. City Collector Brenda Bartels said Jackson shuts off utilities if bills are just one month overdue.

"We don't give them any leeway because if you do things get built up and you're in trouble," she said.

Matlock said the district can set up payment plans for people who have problems paying their bills.

Bill Colyer, president of the McClure-East Cape Girardeau water district board, said the district has fixed the problem.

"The policy just got a little bit lax, but it's tightened back up again," he said. "It's like any business."

wmcferron@semissourian.com

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