By Erica Solvig
Enquirer staff writer

DEERFIELD TWP. - It might sound simple: You don't pay bills on time, and you keep getting charged late fees. So you start paying your bills earlier, right?

But it's not simple in this fast-growing Warren County township, where paying bills late has led to park phones being turned off, at least one company threatening to call a collection agency, and the fire chief expressing alarm about problems buying essential supplies such as oxygen. Not to mention the nearly $1,100 in late fees paid last year.

Late payments are a regular occurrence for the township, an Enquirer study of bills paid during 2003 shows, especially for utility bills such as Sprint, Cinergy and the Warren County Water and Sewer Department.

LATE WATER, SEWER BILLS

These townships paid late fees to their respective water and sewer departments in 2003 - fees are affected by the size of the bill and the number of accounts a township has: Hamilton County (Greater Cincinnati Water Works) • Anderson Township $75.69 • Colerain Township $63.01 • Green Township $8 • Springfield Township $0.81 • Sycamore Township $61.27 • Symmes Township $0.43 Butler County (Department of Environmental Service) • Fairfield Township $2.01 • Liberty Township $10.35 Warren County (Water and Sewer Department) • Clearcreek Township $110.10 • Hamilton Township $214.92 • Deerfield Township $697.0

While other Greater Cincinnati communities have paid late fees for not paying bills on time, research showed that in Deerfield, it's happening just about every month.

It's a situation that Trustees Randy Kuvin and Barbara Wilkens Reed worry could hurt the township's reputation and its credit rating.

Clerk Kristin Spiekerman, the township's chief financial officer, says her staff does not hold bills, and that they get paid as soon as possible. The problem, Spiekerman says, is that the township's policy of two regular meetings a month doesn't provide enough time to prepare the required paperwork and checks and get trustees' approval before the bills come due.

"I'm absolutely flabbergasted that anyone would complain about a thousand dollars in late fees for which we can't control by the way utility companies hold us hostage," Spiekerman said. "When we have a $46 million budget, it's immaterial."

But others say that a township should not be routinely paying bills late.

"It's certainly possible there are any number of government entities that are not paying their bills on time," says Chris Slagle, spokesman from Ohio Auditor Betty Montgomery's office. "But it's really not that common. It's a waste and it's the responsibility of the township and the elected officials of the township to make sure they're not wasting taxpayer dollars."

Cycling issues

Townships can't appoint one person to approve the bills; the township trustees must give the final OK. In Deerfield, the process to verify the spending takes at least 20 days.

As a result, regular bills often show a previous balance that still stands because the checks haven't gone through by the time the next bill comes. And in many cases, a late fee is tacked on.

Deerfield paid nearly $700 in late fees to the Warren County Water and Sewer Department last year, where the average billing cycle is about three weeks. The township now (since the Enquirer began analyzing late-fee records after making public records requests) spends extra money either hand-delivering the water bills or paying for return receipt mailing to see when the bills are getting to the department, Spiekerman says.

She says the township is writing checks on time, but the county is failing to process them promptly.

Warren County's Sanitary Engineer Richard Renneker says the department cannot adjust the payment cycle for Deerfield because if it's changed for the township, it would have to be done for every customer. The department offered to fax a copy of the bill so the township could prepare the checks while waiting for the original to arrive by mail, but was told the township wanted only the original, said the department's business manager, Patty Solinski.

"We can't tailor these bills for everybody," Renneker said. "Everybody else manages to pay their bills. It's a good thing that it's never (Deerfield's) fault."

Records show there are also regular late fees on monthly bills from Sprint and Cinergy. After the Enquirer started asking questions and requesting records, the township discovered their accounts were wrongly classified by utility companies, according to Spiekerman. She and Township Administrator Greg Horwedel say the township is getting them changed and some of its accounts are being credited back.

"These accounts have been out there since probably two tenures ago, so why would current clerks assume that these things were set up incorrectly?" Spiekerman said. "It's not our job to go back through all the old, all the accounts, and find out how they're coded."

But there have been repercussions of the late bill-paying in recent years:

• Fire Chief Bill Kramer in 2000 sent two letters to Spiekerman, saying Rothert's Hospital Equipment and Home Care Co. was threatening to cut off its oxygen supply because of the "poor payment record." He was worried that the township might not have the lifesaving supplies it needed and told Spiekerman in the letter "if any of our Deerfield Township patients dies from lack of needed oxygen, it will be your responsibility."

Kramer says there have also been instances when firefighters went to places such as Home Depot, only to get to the cashier and be told their credit was denied.

Spiekerman wrote in an April 30 letter to the Enquirer that, "I have never been aware that our services were threatened to be discontinued and can prove it." She later said the Rothert's situation was worked out with the help of the county prosecutor.

• The township park department's phone was shut off in February after the township was late on paying an $84 bill. The township's next Sprint bill, due March 2, was late, too, because the trustees didn't meet again until March 3.

• Some bills show a balance that's more than 90 days late. They include a September 2003 bill for $302.26 due to Tri-State Sterling Trucks and an October 2003 invoice for Paychex Inc. for $94.59.

And a second notice for a $2,551.50 bill to the Warren County Regional Planning Commission dated Jan. 2, 2003, as well as a $362 bill from the National Sheriffs' Association dated December 2002 were both paid more than two months after originally sent.

• With a $57.45 balance for three months, the International City/County Management Association sent another invoice in February 2003 saying that the "account is extremely overdue" and threatened to call a collection agency. Township officials say they've never been turned over to a collection agency.

• In April, the township held off paying its annual storm-water discharge fees to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency because it wanted to see if the $2,000 bill could be paid from the road-and-bridge fund. The payment was due in January, and the delay cost taxpayers another $200 that the township is trying to recoup.

"Anytime a bill isn't paid on time it is a burden on taxpayers," Reed said. "If it means trustees have to meet more, to have special meetings, to pay bills, I know I'd be happy to do that."

Under the radar

Spiekerman contends that the problem was much worse when she took office more than four years ago, "to the point that we were having vendors call all the time." Over time, the township has made strides to control the situation, including having credit cards available only on a sign-out basis and having an internal checks-and-balances system.

Scott Evans, regular attendee of township meetings, said the late payments could hurt the township's image: "It's not only the waste of taxpayer dollars, it goes further than that."

Michael Cochran, executive director with of the Ohio Township Association, said he did not know about Deerfield's case in particular, but said it was "very unusual" for any public office to pay bills late on a regular basis. "It really should not occur," Cochran said. "There may be a rare occasion where they argue over a bill, but certainly not on a continuous basis."

The township - or any other Greater Cincinnati community - has not been scoldedin state audits, according to Slagle. But because auditors look only at a sampling of financial records, it's possible that some do not get reported, he said.

Deerfield's neighbor, Hamilton Township, paid about $600 in late fees last year (though about $180 of that was because the bills were sent to the wrong address, so the township is trying to recoup the fees).

According to Clerk Jacqualine Terwilleger, who's been in public service for 20-plus years, it's an unusually high amount for Hamilton Township. Part of the reason, she says, is because the township did not have its funding from the county at the end of the year, so she had to wait on some bills.

"It's the first time in all those years I've had to go to the auditor and ask for an early draw," Terwilleger said.

In Deerfield, all three trustees said they would like to figure out exactly why bills are getting paid late.

Reed said she worries the ratings will suffer from the repeated late payments, but Spiekerman says she does not feel it will. Spiekerman adds that it would cost the township more in the long run to hire more staff and retain its law director for additional trustee meetings.

Spiekerman, who was re-elected in November by an overwhelming majority of the voters, says critics of the township's financial workings are politically motivated.

"Late fees are an avoidable cost - one way or another, they should be avoided," Trustee Kuvin said. "It's not just the expense. It's the reputation with vendors in the business community that suffers. ... It's certainly not a matter that can be ignored or put aside."

---

Jon Gambrell contributed to this story. E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com