San Luis extends freeze on service cutoffs for late water payments
SAN LUIS, Ariz. – Residents who have fallen behind on their water bills will get a second reprieve.
The San Luis City Council recently decided to extend until November its previous decision to suspend penalty charges or service cutoffs for residents whose water bills are delinquent.
Mayor Gerardo Sanchez proposed the extension, saying the city’s water customers are experiencing economic hardships as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Many people have lost their jobs and the benefit of the additional $600 of unemployment benefits are gone. A lot of hardships are expected to come for those people in the coming weeks,” he said. “I propose that we continue this until November.”
The suspension of late charges and service cutoffs, originally approved by the council in April, was due to expire Sept. 1, and city staff had sought a decision about whether to extend it.
Jorge Perez, the city’s billing and collections manager, told the council about 400 water customers are delinquent, most of them falling behind one month. The amounts they own range from $200 to $400.
Sanchez said lifting the freeze would only add to the residents’ financial hardships, at a time when the area faces the possibility of a second COVID-19 that would compound economic difficulties.
“I am aware that if you receive a service, you have to pay for it,” Sanchez said, “but we have to understand the difficulties they are going through. We are lucky to have a job, but what is foreseen to come are foreclosures and bankruptcies.”