WESTLOCK – Four outstanding Westlock County firefighting bills from 2020 totalling just under $3,600 have been written-off with administration saying that all “collection avenues”, including reminder notices, final-notice letters and referral to a collection agency, have been “exhausted.”
At their April 11 meeting, councillors voted 7-0 to write-off four firefighting bills from 2020; two from Sept. 26, 2020, which include the invoice and service charges, totalling $1,404, one from Feb. 13, 2020, for $916.96, another from Feb. 21, 2020, for $687.72 and one from Jan. 30, 2020, totalling $573.10. As per county policy, accounts over $500 in arrears must be written-off by council resolution.
Finance director Peggy Hardinge’s request for decision notes her department has reviewed the past due accounts up to Dec. 31, 2022, and “every effort has been made to collect the accounts through reminder notices, final-notice letters and referral to a collection agency, however, some accounts are now deemed to be uncollectible.”
The summary further explains that the allowance for doubtful accounts as of Dec. 31, 2022, is $14,073.18, while bad debts have been expensed in previous years to establish the allowance with Hardinge noting that “we’re always setting money aside for these sorts of things.”
“Therefore, the write-off amount would be applied to the allowance accounts and there would be no financial impact to the 2023 operating budget. The accounts will remain with the collection agency to continue attempts to collect the amount owing,” her report notes in part.
While deputy reeve Ray Marquette asked why the bills couldn’t be added to the tax roll, Hardinge said in some cases, like a vehicle fire that involves someone who isn’t local, that isn’t possible.
“There are some receivables that can go to taxes, like landfill charges and most fire calls can go to land taxes if they’re tied to that specific property. But not all of them, because it could be something like a vehicle fire,” she said. “We do have some success through our collection agency. We contract someone to do that work and we only pay them if they collect the funds and if they never collect, we don’t pay.”
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