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ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — AUGUST 25, 2025 4 Councilmember Weber assumes we will not waive the fee unless they are calling to make payment. Finance Director Yang confirmed. Councilmember Weber said the individual probably isn't looking for a policy prior to calling. He said if they are calling to make payment on that delinquent bill, the waiver should just be given once per year, or however often Council decides to allow. Councilmember Holden doesn't see a water bill any differently than a mortgage, credit card or anything else. You get it and you have at least 10-15 days, by the time you receive the invoice, to pay it. One time she wrote out her bill, stuck it in her briefcase and forgot to mail it. She called. They checked to make sure that had never happened before, and they waived the fee. How many people are repetitively not paying? We know the ones who don't pay because they come up every quarter. She just doesn't think this is any different than any other bill. You get your bills, and you pay them. We have to pay the City of Roseville when our water bill comes. Councilmember Weber asked how often we pay Roseville. Finance Director Yang said payment used to be quarterly but it is now once a month. Councilmember Weber said a resident who is delinquent on a regular basis would not get their fee waived more than once in what ever time frame Council determines. That won't change. He wouldn't want it to get too convoluted. He wondered about a tiered system where maybe you get one fee waived in year one and year two, but then maybe you have to wait a whole year to do it again. That way it is punitive for repeat offenders but not for those who put it in their briefcase and forgot to mail it. There should be a policy in place and it should waive the fee for a resident who misses a single payment in a couple of years. Councilmember Holden asked how hard it is to keep track of who gets a waiver and when. Finance Director Yang said that information can be found quickly. Councilmember Rousseau thinks we should allow a fee to be waived one time over a three year time period. We should put that on the bill and in the policy. Otherwise, we just don't waive the fees. She would like to have a conversation on if 8% is right for us. Mayor Grant agrees with a forgiveness once every three years. There are instances where businesses have billing issues or it might slip through the cracks. If someone calls up and they had an issue and are willing to pay to resolve it. If they get themselves current that should be allowed once every three years. Councilmember Weber agrees with the 8%. It is the middle of the road compared to the cities that were surveyed. He wondered what the fee would be from Roseville, if we were to pay late. Finance Director Yang said we haven't been late since she has been here. The invoice is Excel - based. She hasn't seen any language outlining what the late fee rate is.