BUCYRUS—Local landlord Gary Harris spoke to the Bucyrus City Council Service Committee Thursday evening about a water bill that was assessed to his real estate taxes.
Harris told the committee that a bill for $558.63 was attached to his real estate taxes that go back to January 2020.
Harris called the water department and asked why they hadn’t disconnected the water before the bill reached those high amounts. He was told that during Covid, the state would not allow utilities to be disconnected.
State law allows a city to assign unpaid water bills to the landowner’s real estate taxes.
Harris told the committee he had a very difficult time getting a response from Jeff Wagner. Several months after reaching out to Wagner, he responded to Harris and said he would look into it. Harris said that after another month went by, he called Wagner again, who said he needed to talk to the Mayor.
Harris told the committee he talked to the Mayor.
Reser did not realize that the utilities were in the tenant’s name and not Harris’.
Harris explained that the utilities had never been in his name. Harris suggested Covid monies be used for that bill.
Councilman Kevin Myer’s stepped to the podium as a citizen to address the law that allows the city to assess property owners for bills unpaid by tenants, especially those accrued during the pandemic when the city was forbidden to disconnect water.
“It’s a crummy law. It’s not his fault his tenant didn’t pay their bills. No other business operates this way. The city needs to take stronger measures to collect these bills rather than to just throw them on the taxes and forget it. The right thing to do is to reimburse him.” Myer’s said.
Council, while at a loss for how to handle this situation, did not disagree.
Councilwoman Sharrock noted that there were probably other landlords who had a similar assessment. She asked that more information be collected before addressing this single issue.
Other council members urged landlords to check their January 2020 tax assessments for similar charges. Council will resume discussion on the assessments at the September 22nd meeting.