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1.. <br />PROBLEMS THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT ENCOUNTERS HANDLING THE WEED AND GRASS <br />MOWING ACCOUNTS <br />Accounts Receivable does not receive the weed mowing invoices from the <br />Public Words Department in a timely manner. We have experienced up to i <br />a three -month delay between the date of mowing and the time the invoices <br />are delivered to our department. <br />Weed mowing invoices usually arrive in large quantities. If they arrive <br />near our cut -off time for billing, a resource problem is created due to <br />limited staff and computer time. If invoices arrive past our billing <br />cut -off date the accounts must wait until the next billing cycle. This <br />could be as much as an additional 30 days. <br />The delay in billing decreases the likelihood for collection. For <br />example: <br />1. property ownership changes can occur between the time of <br />mowing and billing. A new owner is not responsible for the <br />bill; <br />2. the property owner has the right to protest within 10 <br />days after billing. If weeks or months pass after mowing <br />before the original billing and the owner protests the <br />billing, the City has no proof of mowing as the obnoxious <br />vegetation has reappeared; and. <br />3. if the City chose to take the larger accounts to small <br />claims court, it could be futile to pursue due to lack of <br />evidence. <br />Another major problem is incorrect information on the invoices, <br />primarily incorrect property owner and /or addresses and some <br />incorrect map and tax lot numbers. <br />When a billing is generated from an invoice with faulty information <br />and returned to us, the invoice must be cancelled by a journal <br />entry, the adjustment is made to the subsidiary ledger cancelling <br />the account, a new invoice is typed (by Finance staff) and a new <br />account is established and billed. This results in another billing <br />delay and more man -hours spent; these additional hours are not <br />included into finance expenses for handling the weed mowing accounts. <br />To avoid these procedures, the Finance Department's collection <br />division has been researching ownership information on all weed <br />mowing accounts before they are originally billed. This is time - <br />consuming work, yet our experience has shown that the effort is <br />justified due to the high incidence of misinformation on the weed <br />mowing program's invoices. However it is not the responsibility <br />the Finance Department to research information submitted to us by <br />an invoice for billing. <br />-4_ <br />