City of Brownfield urges past due accounts to come in and make arrangements

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“I think some people misunderstood and thought we were giving away city utilities for free. That was not the case,” stated City Manager Jeff Davis. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the City halted all utility disconnects due to non payment for a limited time. That time is coming to an end.

“We knew this was a hard time for everyone and we were not going to compound that by threats to cutoff utility service. We announced clearly at the time, and it was presented on all media outlets, that this was not a time of free service. We made it clear that the bills would still have to be paid and we urged folks to go ahead and pay what they could and do their best to stay current,” stated Davis.

Currently, the City has over 440 past due accounts of varying amounts. These accounts will have to be paid. The City has established June 30 as what they are calling a “Drop Dead Day.” This means that on June 30, the City will begin disconnecting homes with past due bills. But, there is some good news.

“We want to work with you on this,” stated Davis. “We want people to come in and talk to us and work out a payment plan. Now, they will have to keep their current bill paid, but they can work out a payment plan on those past due accounts. We don’t want to cut anyone off, but we must have the revenue from City Utilities to continue to run the City.”

Citizens can start going in to City Hall now to work on making arrangements to get these past due bills caught up. Davis stated, “Do not come in on June 30 or any day after and want to work on a plan at that point. We need you to work with us before that day.”

Davis also stated that all accounts must be paid in full by the end of the year.

The City was gracious to allow citizens some leeway during the early days when people were not really allowed to go work at many jobs. Please get in to City Hall and make plans to get your bill caught up.

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