City of Moscow looks into utility fee relief

The city of Moscow is examining ways it can provide utility fee relief to residents and business owners who have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but developing a relief program in a timely manner and providing assistance fairly are obstacles officials are facing.

City Supervisor Gary Riedner told the city council Monday night that one idea is setting up an account that can accept donations.

Determining if the donations will be spread across all utility accounts or certain accounts would be a question the city would need to answer, Riedner said. If certain accounts, finding a process to determine which accounts would benefit from the donations would also need to be established.

“The question becomes how do you distribute those funds in a fair manner?” Riedner said.

Implementing a needs-based utility cessation or reduction was another suggestion.

Riedner said needs-based fees in Idaho are charged according to the value of services rendered. So, utility fees assessed are blind to a ratepayer’s financial condition.

“Once you start to cut out some class or some individual, you have to be very careful that you are doing it in a fair manner and it takes time to develop that sort of a program,” he said.

Riedner said utilities will not be shut off and no late fees will be assessed through the duration of the city’s public emergency health orders, which currently expire May 5.

He said the city will continue to review alternatives and present them to the city council as quickly as possible.

“I really want to figure out some way to help and support these people,” said Councilor Maureen Laflin. “At the same time, I’m very concerned about creating friction about who got it and who didn’t without really clear guidelines.”

Riedner said the city does not have control to reduce property taxes in the short term to lessen the effect of the coronavirus because taxes have already been levied.

He also said the city does not have the authority to provide rent relief to tenants, noting that is typically a state or federal function.

In other business, the council:

Accepted the $2,857,280 bid from TML Construction of Hayden, Idaho, for the second phase of Well 10 development and authorized staff approval of construction change orders in an amount not to exceed 10 percent of the contract amount. Well 10 is on the west end of West A Street near the state line.

Approved a public works mutual aid compact with the city of Pullman. The compact will allow the two cities to support one another in the maintenance of critical public works systems in the event that the COVID-19 pandemic or other emergency situation generates a need for mutual aid.

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.