Las Vegas Valley water district: Credit and collections and other fun stuff Karen Basilotta

Southern Nevada Water Use First, the fun stuff  I’d like to give you a picture of our utility and some of the upfront challenges we experience as a desert community with a continued 19 year drought. We have just shy of 400,000 accounts at Las Vegas Valley Water District, we share our Nevada water use (primarily from Colorado River/Lake Mead) with the cities of Henderson, North Las Vegas, Big Bend Water District and Boulder City.

Desert Water Yup, it’s mostly river water!

Southern Nevada captures and recovers 99% of water used indoors Only outdoor conservation reduces the community’s consumptive water use Interesting fact about Southern Nevada and LVVWD water….

Outsiders and newcomers often point to the Strip, but –not so fast Outsiders and newcomers often point to the Strip, but –not so fast! Because resorts use most of their water indoors, they collectively consume only about 3 percent of our community’s water supply, while they directly employ about 100,000 people 15 Perception is not always reality…. Trivia Tidbit: The iconic Bellagio Fountains don’t use any of our community’s water…and they are fed by an old, privately owned well that is brackish and not useable with desalination anyway!

The new Raiders stadium, which is expected to generate more than half a billion dollars annually and thousands of jobs, will use about as much water for irrigation as a high school football field The stadium’s only other significant consumptive water use is for the air conditioning cooling towers, which are similar to those used in the Convention Center

Let’s Talk about Credit and Collections Credit & Collections reviews delinquent accounts and determines accounts that are high priority for shut off, negotiates and secures payments. We use built in CIS processes to generate fees and send letters as customers evolve from collections to severance processes. There are 2 full time associates that follow up on delinquent accounts and 3 full time associates that work our bankruptcies in house as well as the lien process.

Delinquent Shut Off Processing (DSO) The delinquent shut off report (DSO) is reviewed daily. Accounts are selected for DSO based on: Age of the debt Date of last payment Ownership status (renters are shut off, liens are filed for property owners) Review To Do’s Was a payment made? Was the payment returned? Possible circumvention? Send for DSO again if applicable

Additional Processes that enable success Deposits for Commercial and Residential Dedicated Commercial Business Team Payment Options Lien Processes Business Process Design

Outbound Dialing 2018: Nearly 83,000 outbound calls placed $3.5 million collected in multiple payments options

bonds Additional Option for Customers include Surety Bonds Confirmed each year on expiry to ensure up to date

Liens What is a lien? A legal claim on a property used to secure payment of debt. Guarantees 100% payment Liens are recorded for owner’s accounts only We lien in lieu of delinquent shut off Lien in lieu of Disconnect at the main for inactive consumption I’ll spend more time detailing the complexity of the lien process, and the successes it has brought.  Included with this will be our overall annual $’s generated as well as the success we have had in simply sending out demand letters (if the customer pays with this, our work is done!)

NRS Statute Las Vegas Valley Water District Act Chapter 167, Statutes of Nevada 1947  Sec. 9.1.  Delinquent bills for water or services. Any bill for water or services furnished by the District which is delinquent for more than 60 days must be listed on a delinquent list prepared by the District. The list must identify the property to which the water was furnished in a manner which permits the owner thereof to easily identify his or her property, state the name of the property owner and list the delinquent amount. Such lists may be filed with the County Tax Collector and upon filing, the properties described therein are subject to a lien for nonpayment of the delinquent amounts. If such a list is filed, the County Tax Collector shall include the delinquent amounts on the next tax bill for the property and shall enforce collection of the amounts in the same manner and with the same penalties and rights of foreclosure which apply to the levy, collection and enforcement of property taxes. The remedy for nonpayment of bills provided in this section is in addition to any other available remedies, including but not limited to termination of service, which the District may elect to use for such nonpayment.       2.  Upon compliance with subsection 5 and until paid, all charges delinquent for more than 60 days and filed with the County Tax Collector constitute a perpetual lien on and against the property served, and the lien is prior and superior to all liens, claims and titles other than liens of general taxes and special assessments, and not subject to extinguishment by the sale of any property on account of nonpayment of any such liens, claims and titles including the liens of general taxes and special assessments, and any such lien may be foreclosed in the same manner as provided by the laws of the State of Nevada for the foreclosure of mechanics’ liens. Before any such lien is foreclosed the Board shall hold a hearing thereon after notice thereof by publication and by registered or certified first-class mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the last known owner at his or her last known address according to the records of the District and the real property assessment roll in the county in which the property is located.       3.  The Board shall prescribe and enforce regulations for the connection with and the disconnection from properties of the facilities of the District and the taking of its services and provide for the collection of charges.       4.  As a remedy established for the collection of due and unpaid deposits and charges and the penalties thereon an action may be brought in the name of the District in any court of competent jurisdiction against the person who occupied the property when the service was rendered or the deposit became due or against any person guaranteeing payment of bills, or against any or all of those persons, for the collection of the amount of the deposit or the collection of delinquent charges and all penalties thereon.       5.  A lien against the property served is not effective until a notice of the lien, separately prepared for each lot affected, is:       (a) Mailed to the last known owner at his or her last known address according to the records of the District and the real property assessment roll of the county in which the property is located;       (b) Delivered by the Board to the Office of the County Recorder of the county within which the property subject to the lien is located;       (c) Recorded by the County Recorder in a book kept by him or her to record instruments encumbering land; and       (d) Indexed in the real estate index as deeds and other conveyances are required by law to be indexed.

Liens FY 2009-2010 Liens Recorded 4 Liens recorded totaling $5,263.49 FY 2017-2018 Liens Recorded 3513 Liens recorded totaling $2,493,246

Lien Resolved This is the number of customers that pay us based on the initial demand letter: 2331 demand letters $924,197.08 collected .9 of the 2.4 million $ collected was resolved simply by sending a letter!

Who Shares our use of liens in southern Nevada? City of Henderson City of North Las Vegas Clark County Water Reclamation Republic Services (no tax roll)

Questions please? Karen Basilotta Las Vegas Valley Water District 702-258-3977 Karen.Basilotta@lvvwd.com