Collection agency targets residents of Niles in arrears over utility bills

By Jordan Cohen

NILES — A collection agency that specializes in delinquent utility accounts will try to recover nearly $200,000 in utility payments owed to the city by residents and businesses.

Thomas Telego, Niles business manager, said that the company, RBC Inc. of Mansfield, will begin sending letters the first week of May to utility customers who have been in arrears for at least 60 days, and will pursue collections afterward. Niles provides electric, water and sewer service.

Earlier this year, city departments cut approximately 5 percent of their previous budgets because of declining revenue. City council approved hiring RBC in February when it learned how much money was unpaid.

“The $200,000 is owed from just the past two years,” Telego said. The number of delinquent payers was not immediately available.

The cost to those delinquent will be higher than just the amount of the unpaid bills. Council authorized the company to add a 30 percent surcharge to the amount overdue and a higher surcharge in the event of litigation.

“If RBC has to take debtors to court to get what we are owed, then the [surcharge] is increased to 45 percent of the bill,” Telego said. The company will keep the surcharges.

Because the city could not add surcharges to bills that were in arrears before the ordinance hiring RBC was passed, the company will keep 30 percent of what it collects from bills delinquent before February.

Telego said RBC specializes in helping municipal governments collect unpaid utility bills and described add-on fees as “a concept gaining momentum in many Ohio cities.”