I have a municipal client that has had problems with a water customer for several years.  My client has recently advised the customer that if the customer's water bill is not paid, client will have to consider terminating water service.  No official Cutoff Notice has been given yet.  The customer responded that her water cannot be cut off because she has a minor child (11 years old), and/or because she disputes the bill.  I have looked, but I cannot find any law, applicable municipal ordinance, rule, or regulation that prohibits a municipality from terminating water service for lack of payment because there is a minor child or the bill is disputed.

Any thoughts or guidance you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe Weaver
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Joe,

I do not think you will find any law that forbids a municipal client from terminating water services for lack of payment because there is a child present.  You may run into problems, however, in terminating the services if there is a dispute with the bill without first following the procedures and policies established by the city in handling those.  I have attached an old OML pdf outlining various issues with municipal utilities and it does cover non-payment.  It is dated, but it may provided some guidance and insight for more complicated issues.

Before you terminate services as a municipality, there will need to be notice provided to comport with Due Process under the Fourteenth Amendment. The city can refer the matter to collection as well.

Best,

Ray

From: Joe Weaver via Oama oama@lists.imla.org
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2025 12:28 PM
To: oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: [Oama] Cutting off water service

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I have a municipal client that has had problems with a water customer for several years.  My client has recently advised the customer that if the customer's water bill is not paid, client will have to consider terminating water service.  No official Cutoff Notice has been given yet.  The customer responded that her water cannot be cut off because she has a minor child (11 years old), and/or because she disputes the bill.  I have looked, but I cannot find any law, applicable municipal ordinance, rule, or regulation that prohibits a municipality from terminating water service for lack of payment because there is a minor child or the bill is disputed.

Any thoughts or guidance you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe Weaver
NOTICE:
The information contained in this transmission is or may be protected by the attorney-client and/or the attorney work product privilege and is confidential. It is intended only for the use of the individual or entity identified above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any dissemination or distribution of the accompanying communication is prohibited. No applicable privilege is waived by the party sending this communication. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by reply and delete the original message from your system.

Circular 230 Disclosure: To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.