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Communication with Utility Customers will get better in 2025

This morning, I woke up to several Facebook posts and tags letting me know that several commercial utility customers had received surprise increases to their monthly bill, and in one case a large payment was auto debited from their account. 

First of all, I want to apologize to those customers for the lack of communication, letting them know, that a larger bill was coming in the near future. We simply didn't do enough to make sure our customers knew there would be a larger bill. As the City Manager of Sunnyside, I won't ever make an excuse for our lack of performance. I will always try to learn from it, and make sure our staff knows where our short comings were, and make sure we improve upon our processes.

As a result of this incident, I have authorized the finance staff to offer those affected customers payment plans or credits to their accounts. Customers can click this link to contact utility billing representatives by phone or email:  Utility Billing (customer service) | Sunnyside, WA - Official Website 

The other issue I'd like to address is the allegation that this was a calculated money grab. This was in no way the case. The larger bills were not the result of increased fees, they were the result of customers asking for additional services, i.e. more garbage pickups. I had a chance to talk with our finance team and here are some of the facts.

FACTS ABOUT ACCOUNTS WHO RECEIVED INCREASES

There were 13 accounts (two of them city accounts) that had their service increased (either number of pickups per week or additional containers), last August.  Yakima Waste delivered and/or began the increase in pickups, however the city’s utility billing software was not updated to reflect the change.  Utility billing staff performed an audit of services provided by Yakima Waste to what was being billed, and found the 13 discrepancies.  Because the accounts impacted were commercial and all dumpsters the amounts are much larger than residential.  

The person who posted the comment, requested an additional pickup of their 6 yard dumpster in August 2023 (from 2 times per week to 3 times per week). The additional pickup resulted in an additional monthly charge.  The additional amount billed of $2,757.52 was for the billing period 9/16 to 10/12/2023 thru 8/16 to 9/15/2024. The increase for each pick up is an additional $200 (plus state excise tax and utility tax).   The person who posted, was offered a payment plan, and that offer is still on the table. However, I was told that customer decided to pay the full amount owed. There is still the opportunity to provide a credit to this customer. I have exchanged communication with them, and plan to visit with this company in the new year.

PROCESS BEING FIXED BY DEPUTY CITY MANAGER DEBBIE ZABELL

When I arrived in late July, this was an issue that the finance staff did not know how to process and because the finance supervisor and administrative services director were unavailable to them, because they were either terminated or on administrative leave, it was left idle.  Once our Deputy City Manager/Finance Director Debbie Zabell was hired in September, and able to go through the process, staff knew how to proceed.

I would like to note that this should have been completed, and customers should have been notified in October, however staff shortage in Finance has left important work like this, to be delayed. The Finance staff met this morning about this situation and came up with a system that will prevent this from type of mis-billing situation from happening in the future as well as the importance of communicating with customers in advance and the timing (holiday) of the delivery. 

THINGS WILL GET BETTER

I'll close with this. As the leader of this City, I will always take full responsibility for how we are providing services. There have also been allegations that we knowingly violated state laws in an attempt to balance our budget, and the larger bills were politically motivated. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our Finance staff is made up of employees who are committed to providing an incredible level of customer service to the highest ethical standards. They show me every day how much our residents mean to them through their efforts.

I want to thank everyone for reaching out to me with this issue. We are making sure we take care of our customers. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please text or call me at 509-850-4748 or email mgonzalez@sunnyside-wa.gov. Thank you for your patience. I hope the new year brings you peace, prosperity and blessings.

With extreme gratitude,

Mike Gonzalez

City Manager Sunnyside, Washington 

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