To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
Through: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
From: Mark Marlowe, P.E. Director of Castle Rock Water
Anne Glassman, Business Solutions Manager
Title
COVID Customer Assistance Program Update [Castle Rock Water]
Body
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Executive Summary
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide Town Council with an update on the COVID customer assistance programs offered through Castle Rock Water.
In April 2020, two customer assistance programs were launched to help assist residential customers and small businesses with financial burdens as a result of the pandemic. A funding amount of $500k was allocated for the small business customer assistance program with $82k used to date and $418k remaining to date. Approximately 55 small business customers have taken advantage of the $1,500 water bill credit with 50% in the form of a grant with no need to payback and 50% in the form of a loan with a payback period of 12 months. This program is currently administered through the Castle Rock website.
Approximately 93 residential customers have taken advantage of the customer assistance program to date. A funding amount of $200k was allocated for the residential customer assistance program with $28k used to date and $172k remaining to date. CR Water has partnered with the Help and Hope Center to assist with the screening and approval process for residential customer needs.
Staff has provided several avenues of outreach on both these programs since April, such as statement messaging, email blasts, Town Talk, customer phone calls, customer payment portal messaging, website information, and more recently a Water Wednesday post. We have not received an application for the small business assistance program since June despite these outreach efforts. Residential applications are sporadic and increased slightly when we returned back to disconnections of service in August.
CR Water also has initiated an expanded version of our internal payment plan that has been in place for years, prior to the pandemic. It was expanded to allow payback over a 12-month period rather than a 6-week period. It also allows the customer to pay 25% of the past due up front rather than the previous requirement of 50% of the past due upfront to execute the payment plan. In a disconnection situation they were not able to put the current charges into the payment plan, however this expanded plan allows them to put the current charges into the 12-month deferral along with the past due.
Staff proposes to continue these programs into 2021 to continue to help assist both small business and residential customers with the 50% grant and 50% loan payback option. A capped amount for each program will be established in the amount of $100k for small business and $50k for residential customers on a first come first served basis until funds are exhausted. This program will be extended thru December 31, 2021 or until funds are exhausted, whichever comes first. Customers who have already executed the COVID customer assistance program in 2020 will be eligible for a second 50% grant and 50% loan starting in 2021.
We will continue to use the Help and Hope Center for screening and approval of the residential assistance needed. The small business application will remain accessible on the Castle Rock website. Staff recently reviewed the criteria for the small business application (see Attachment A) and feel the criteria is still applicable going forward.
History of Past Town Council, Boards & Commissions, or Other Discussions
Castle Rock Water Commission was presented this program at the scheduled December 9, 2020 meeting. Castle Rock Water Commission was supportive of the program and continuing the program into 2021.
Notification and Outreach Efforts
Castle Rock Water has utilized a wide variety of approaches to informing customers of the availability of these programs including the Town website, water bills, social media posts, direct emails to customers, Outlook magazine, and updates to the Economic Development Council. Staff will continue to use these methods to get the word out to customers about the 2021 program.
Budget
Castle Rock Water is proposing to reduce the budgeted amounts for the Customer Assistance Programs in 2021 to $100,000 for the small business program and $50,000 for the residential program. This is a substantial reduction from the amounts budgeted in 2020 which were $500,000 for the small business program and $250,000 for the residential program. The reduced budgets for 2021 are consistent with actual costs for the program in 2020. These budgeted amounts will be included in the 1st Quarter Budget Amendment for 2021.
Recommendations
Staff recommends continuing the customer assistance programs into 2021 with the reduced budgets and as further outlined in the Executive Summary.
Attachments
Attachment A: Small Business Application