WM Utility writes off 2018 losses

City takes $248,000 in bad debt off its books

By JOHN RECH

news@theeveningtimes.com

West Memphis utilities commissioners wrote off 2018 bad debt during its regular November meeting. City residents may notice a new glow in the streets as the city utility company committed to LED replacement lights. Commissioners all authorized the purchase a small bucket truck during its regular monthly meeting.

After years of multimillion- dollar annual exercises of writing off bad debt a few years ago, utility commissioners reviewed a smaller loss of unpaid utility bills. Commissioners wrote off $248,000 of uncollected bills from 2018.

Commissioners changed overdue bill and shutoff policies three years ago to prevent continued seven digit write offs each year. Utilities General Manager Todd Pedersen said bad debt had fallen in line with that experienced by other utility companies.

“We’re presenting $248,100 in unpaid bills for 2018,” said Pedersen. “It will be taken off our books, but as customers come back they’ll have to pay. 2017 was $50,000 less but the industry standard is one percent and we are in line with that.”

Commissioner Shirley Patton Brown noted a number of the unpaid bills were in the name of deceased city residents.

In other business:

■ The utility company also bought a new bucket truck aimed for special duty. Managers said the truck would improve ef_ciency in tree trimming and had budgeted cash on hand to acquire the vehicle by year end. The $135,000 bucket truck featured a 65 foot reach and provided for one crew to cut and chip while another ran the debris to the dump. Not having to climb to cut presented another timesaver according to the Electric Superintendent Mike Downing.

“It’s for tree trimming, small enough to get in a backyard,” said Downing. “A bucket truck cuts tree trimming time in half. We have a problem getting a huge truck in back yards.”

■ Commissioners heard another money saving commitment from the electric department which will no longer use sodium lighting, but replace burned out street lights with LED _xtures. Utilities nationwide began moving away from sodium lighting to LED which consume 50-75 percent less energy and prevent carbon dioxide emissions. LED _xtures direct the light downward reducing night light wash visual pollution. State Tech Magazine reported national utilities savings at $100,000,000 in 2019 due to the change to LED. West Memphis joined the movement.

“When lights go out or break, we are replacing those with LED _xtures,” said Pedersen. “The high pressure sodium lights are getting more expensive and the LED with their life expectancies and cost coming down are more bene_cial. All our replacements are LED justi_ed according to our cost bene_t analysis.”

Sodium street light to the left and LED to the right, West Memphis residents may soon notice a new glow on city streets. The city Utilities company committed to replacing broken and burned out street lights with LED fixtures. The move aimed at improving lighting and reducing costs.

Photo by Wikimedia