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5.4.07 M.U.D. sticks price tag on landlords' request The Metropolitan Utilities District has agreed to some changes requested by area landlords -- for a fee. The utility will charge landlords $7 per tenant for account information and $2 to notify a landlord that it is putting the landlord's name back on an account that had been in a tenant's name. Jerry Mainelli, one of the landlords who pushed for the changes, said he thinks the fees are punitive. "They want to make sure that nobody comes back and bothers them again," Mainelli said. For the same price that M.U.D. will charge to look up account information, Mainelli said, he can obtain a criminal history from his credit agency. Landlords had lobbied M.U.D. since January, saying the information will help protect their property, keep tenants safe and reduce problems with tenants who don't pay their bills. The Omaha Public Power District has adopted a similar policy, but it is not charging landlords for the information. The M.U.D. board unanimously approved the fees at its meeting Wednesday. "It's not punitive at all," Board Member Mark Doyle said. "If we hadn't charged fees, I wouldn't have supported this." The fees are justified, he said, because the services are geared to a specific group of customers, landlords. M.U.D. based the $7 fee on the direct and indirect staffing costs associated with looking up account information. The water and natural gas utility estimates that it spends 13.5 minutes in staff time at a total cost of $6, plus $1 in postage and materials. The utility says it will have to spend $65,000 in consulting fees to enable its new computer system to generate notification letters. Wipro Technologies consultants will be paid $75 an hour and have until July to make the upgrades. |
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