Council amends disconnect time: unpaid utility bills to trigger next-day 7:59 a.m. disconnection

The Gonzales City Council on March 1 passed an ordinance amending Division 2, section 13.211 of the City Code to set disconnection for nonpayment at 7:59 a.m. the next day after a missed payment.

The ordinance change standardizes the timing for disconnection, aligning the policy used for other account types and addressing recent customer concerns about late payment windows. City staff said that setting the cutoff at 07:59 a.m. allows billing staff time to process payments that arrived after the 5 p.m. cutoff on the due date.

Nut graf: Council moved the formal cutoff earlier than the previous practice of a 5 p.m. administrative deadline and clarified how in-person, drop-box and online payments are handled; staff said the change requires one employee to input late payments before the 07:59 processing time.

City utility billing staff described the procedure: morning staff would input payments received after 5 p.m. and, at 08:00, disconnect lists would be generated for field crews carrying out reconnections and disconnections. Council discussed customer-service edge cases — for example, when a customer arrives in person after the administrative deadline but before physical disconnection — and agreed to continue discussing any additional discretion policies at a future meeting.

Councilmember Hernandez moved to approve the ordinance amending section 13.211 and set the disconnection time at 07:59 a.m.; a second by Councilmember Jordan carried by voice vote.

Ending: The ordinance passed; councilors asked staff to return with any recommended process changes to make the system more customer-friendly while maintaining fair application of the rule.