Discussion and possible action on any and all matters regarding adopting a Notice of Intent to amend the collection fee for our Utility and Ambulance Accounts. (Roula Encinas, Director of Finance, and Edgar Esparza, Billing and Collections Manager)

On March 8, 2020, the City of San Luis entered into an agreement with Valley Collection Services, LLC, to recover any debt on its utility and ambulance accounts. Valley Collection Agency established a commission fee of 20% on all collections made. The city elected to add this fee to the customer's utilities account balance to recover 100% of the outstanding amount. On our ambulance accounts, the collection commission fee was taken from the account's balance. 

Billing and Collections, and Ambulance Billing analyzed the amounts in collections versus those collected by Valley Collection Services. In the last five years, Billing and Collections have sent a total of $46,239.43, and VCS has only collected $11,678.98. For ambulance billing, we have sent a total of $1,224,995.27, and VCS has only collected $22,653.95.

As a result, Billing and Collections and Ambulance Billing are looking into transferring our accounts to a collection agency that is local to the Yuma County area. However, the new collection agency has the following commission fees:
- 25% commission fee on the amounts collected
- 30% commission fee on all accounts with a balance under $25.00
- 40% commission fee on accounts referred out of the State of Arizona

For Billing and Collections, the commission fee will be added to the account's balance. For Ambulance Billing, the commission fee will be taken from the account balance.