To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
Through: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
From: Mark Marlowe, P.E., Director of Castle Rock Water
Nichol Bussey, Business Solutions & Support Manager
Title
Update: Customer Financial Hardship Program through Castle Rock Water [Entire Castle Rock Water Customer Base]
Body
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Executive Summary
This memorandum provides details on the proposed customer financial hardship program. The program was originally developed in response to the economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 response in 2020 and has now been adapted for more general use. The program would be used to help any residential customer needing temporary financial relief due to a financial hardship.
The new financial hardship program is structured the same as the previous COVID-19 Customer Assistance Plan. For qualifying residential customers, the Town would provide a microloan through Castle Rock Water of $150 for 12 months at no interest and a grant of $150, all administered through the Castle Rock Water billing system. The Town will work with the Help and Hope Center, a local not for profit agency, to identify customers at risk who need help. Once customers are identified by the Help and Hope Center on a first come first serve basis, Castle Rock Water will credit the customer accounts with $300 divided into a loan and grant as noted previously. Staff proposes to fund this program out of Castle Rock Water’s Assistance Program account to a total of $5,000 per year. Additional details on the customer assistance program are provided in the discussion section.
Notification and Outreach Efforts
The Town will utilize the normal Town outreach channels including social media and email. In addition, the Help and Hope Center will notify potential qualifying customers of the program.
History of Past Town Council, Boards & Commissions, or Other Discussions
Castle Rock Water presented the concept for this program to the Castle Rock Water (CRW) Commission at their meeting on October 26, 2022. The general consensus from the CRW Commission was positive and to continue to develop the program for Council consideration.
Discussion
Details and assumptions used to develop the customer financial hardship program are shown below:
• Budget $5,000 per year to this program based on a first come, first serve basis.
• Up to 3-month bill waiver for indoor water use, wastewater, water resources and stormwater bill, assume $100/month for ease of administration, set up as a no interest microloan paid back over 12 months. To be clear, each customer approved would get $300 in a microloan.
• Do 50% bill forgiveness up to $2,500 ($150 per customer approved for the program).
• 12-month payment plan to repay $12.50 per month for the remaining $150. The 12-month payment plan would begin 3 months after approval for the program.
• Have option to disconnect water service and/or lien property if customer defaults.
• The Town through Castle Rock Water will contract with the Help and Hope Center to qualify customers based on need for the bill assistance program. That way, the Town is not trying to identify who needs it. The Help and Hope Center would tell us, Mr. Smith qualifies and Castle Rock Water would then move forward. The Help and Hope Center previously qualified customers for our COVID-19 assistance program and they have agreed to qualify customers for this program on an on-going basis going forward.
Examples of how the grant and microloan combination look on a monthly basis for actual bills are shown in Attachment A.
Budget Impact
The program will be budgeted for $5,000 per year, in the Assistance Program GL account 210-4200-442-80-95, to be used on a first come first serve basis.
Attachments
Attachment A: Monthly Bills