News

Portland Water Bureau to drop 'returned payment' fee after investigation

KATU · last updated

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — A damning investigation by the Portland City Auditor’s Office found the Water Bureau spent more money to collect an unfair fee than the amount it received.

Customers are charged $35 for “returned payment” if funds are not available in their bank accounts when a transaction is processed.

These fees have inequitable impacts on certain socioeconomic groups and can happen even if the issue is out of their control.

The investigation found that in 2023 the bureau spent $112,000 to collect these fees but only received $40,000. That comes out to over $72,000 in costs indirectly passed to ratepayers.

The Water Bureau is set to remove the fee starting July 1, when the 2025-26 fiscal year begins.

The Revenue Division, Bureau of Transportation and Fire and Rescue are also removing the fees.

View full article

here today, more tomorrow

We’ve launched briefing.center with a focus on the press and media.

And we’ve added Citizen Cartwright, a daily quick-read news summary by veteran Washington journalist Linda Cartwright. We’ve also created a new voting rights knowledge center for Citizen Cartwright subscribers. (You can sign up for a dedicated morning email at citizencartwright.com.)

You can sign up here for full access to press and media and Citizen Cartwright on briefing.center.

You can use briefing.center as the center of your information management, or just one of your tools. We’re happy to discuss your information needs.

Sign up