MELFORT — Council voted to change utility collection on water and sewage so that cities can transfer unpaid utility charges to the property tax roll.
This is regardless whether the service is supplied to the tenant or owner, it will go to whoever owns the property.
Rick Lang, Melfort's mayor, wouldn’t say this puts any extra responsibility on landlords.
“It gives us another means of collecting unpaid utility bills,” Lang said. “Previously when you’re talking about a renter there was a point in time when it was an onerous process to go through to recoup those funds. So this gives a change to the city’s act, gives us a clear course for how to recoup those unpaid dues. And it puts some onus on the landlord as the property owner and really that’s who we bill is the property owner. So I guess part of being a landlord is to make sure a tenant is keeping up with their obligations.”
