The Owosso City Council voted down a proposal to switch residential utility accounts from quarterly to monthly billing, concluding that the city should keep the current quarterly schedule.

Council members debated the change for more than an hour during an items-of-business discussion before a roll-call vote that failed 4-3. Council members Olsen, Fear and Osmer voted in favor; Council members Owens, Pro Tem Haber, Ludington and Mayor Robert J. Tice Jr. voted no.

Supporters, including Councilwoman Olsen, told colleagues the move would make bills psychologically and practically easier for residents to manage. "When you get your bill when you have money, you are more likely to pay it," Olsen said during the debate, describing conversations with municipal leaders at the Michigan Municipal League conference who favor more frequent billing.

Opponents said the change would cost the city to implement and that public demand was limited. Mayor Robert J. Tice Jr. said he had received little pressure from residents to make the switch and that the city should "evaluate the new rates first" before altering billing frequency. Councilmember Ludington and others raised the proposal's five-year cost estimate of roughly $53,000 and noted operational constraints tied to meter reads, final bills, and printing schedules.

City staff explained that monthly billing requires tighter production timelines because final reads and bill printing must occur between readings, and that the proposed due-date cadence in staff materials would leave about 15 days from bill issue to due date in the model under consideration. The finance/utility staff also said some operational flexibility exists — for example, payment plans are available for customers and staff can accept partial payments before a bill is due — but that switching cadence changes how those processes run.

Council discussion covered alternatives and compromises. Several members proposed exploring bimonthly billing as a middle ground, and one councilor asked staff to report delinquency and shutoff data historically to evaluate whether more frequent billing would reduce delinquency enough to offset implementation costs.

After the failed motion — "Make a motion to approve monthly billing" — the clerk recorded a 3-4 tally (Olsen, Fear, Osmer yes; Owens, Haber, Ludington, Mayor Tice no). The motion failed and no ordinance change was adopted.

City staff and councilors left open the option of revisiting the issue later. Officials recommended gathering additional delinquency and shutoff data and evaluating whether a bimonthly option (which would require an ordinance change) might be an acceptable compromise.

The council's vote preserves the existing quarterly billing cycle; staff will continue to provide utilities reporting to the council and said they can produce delinquency reports dating back at least five years on request.