COVID-Related Overdue Account Balances for Wastewater Treatment Reaches Nearly 5% of HRSD Annual Operating Revenues

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VIRGINIA BEACHHRSD suspended collection efforts on overdue bills in March 2020 in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Since that time, the number of accounts with overdue balances and the total dollars overdue continue to grow.

As of October 31, 2020, the amount of overdue wastewater treatment charges and outstanding bills totals more than 4.8 percent of HRSD's projected fiscal year 2021 annual operating revenues as shown on the Work Papers prepared by HRSD's Department of Finance staff on November 17, 2020.

HRSD's only source of revenue is derived from the fees collected for treatment of wastewater from our 480,000 customer accounts. HRSD rates are established to recover all costs incurred for conveying and treating wastewater. No provision is made within the HRSD Enabling Act nor within the established rate structure for forgiveness of charges for services received.

The HRSD Commission will review this information at their meeting on November 24, 2020 where public comment will be received.

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Should you have any questions or comments, you may contact:

Media Contact:

Leila Rice, APR – 757.642.1321
Director of Communications
lrice@hrsd.com