County of Barrhead writes off old firefighting services invoice

BARRHEAD - County of Barrhead councillors officially wrote off nearly $2,000 in accounts receivable during their Jan. 16 meeting.
However, finance director Tamara Molzahn told councillors just because the municipality has taken $1,800 off their accounting records does not mean the county has stopped trying to collect the debt.

The debt owed is for firefighting services rendered by the Barrhead Regional Fire Services (BRFS).

According to Policy FN-004 (Collections of Accounts Receivable), an overdue account must have been in the hands of the collection agency for over a year.

Later in the meeting, councillors also accepted, as information, the allowance for doubtful accounts, which, as of Dec. 31, sits at just over $5,000.

"Writing off the account doesn't preclude the county from attempting to collect," she said. "It remains with the collection agency, and if they are successful, they send us the funds minus their [33.3 per cent collection fee], and we just record it as income."

Invoices get sent to a collection agency or are put into the allowance for doubtful accounts because they cannot be attached to a tax roll."Because they are not associated with a landowner or are not eligible, they have to go to civil action," Molzahn said.

As of Jan. 1, the county has 30 accounts with its collection agency for $38,000.

Molzahan noted that council has already approved the removal of 26 accounts, adding the remaining four accounts; three have been sent to the allowance for doubtful accounts. She also stated that the county will send one account to collections if not paid by Jan. 19.

In 2023, Molzahn said the municipality sent four property tax accounts to collections, totalling $1,300, on building on land leased from the province.

Reeve Doug Drozd, later in the meeting, jokingly said the province might not take too kindly if the municipality were to put a lien on the property and "foreclose on it" or put it up for tax auction.

Molzahn added four invoices to the allowance for doubtful accounts in 2022 and 2023, totalling $5,000; three were for unpaid fire services, and one was for the purchase of gravel.

Most of the time, the unpaid invoices sent to collections or added to the allowance for doubtful accounts, Molzahn said, are for fire services, most notably vehicle fires from those living outside their jurisdiction.

"Our efforts in collecting from doubtful accounts is improving," she said. "In 2022, three [of nine accounts] were paid in full, while we received a partial payment for one," she said.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com