Utility Discounts Again Available to Senior and Disabled Renters

When Kent’s January utility billing statements are mailed out in the coming days, each will include a message informing renters who are disabled and/or over age 62 that they can now apply for the city’s recently revived utility rate discount program.

Dave Coffee, Kent's budget and finance director, told members Wednesday that past problems which had for eligible renters have been rectified in the city’s utility billing computer system.

There are no income requirements for receiving a discount on recycling fees. Applicants need only fill out a short form and show proof that they’re age 62 or older, Coffee explained. The application can be accessed for printing .

Senior and/or disabled renters who wish to receive a discount on water and sewer rates must qualify by providing proof of income along with their application, which is available for printing .

Total household income must not exceed $27,950 for a single person or $31,950 for a married couple. Applicants must attach a copy of their most recently filed federal income tax form 1040 or annual Social Security or retirement benefits.

Completed applications must be mailed to or dropped off at the Utility Billing Office at City Hall. It may take up to 15 days from date of submission for city employees to review and process each application before discounts go into effect.

Coffee said it’s the responsibility of tenants who believe they meet eligibility requirements to make application. Once approved, the discounts will be reflected in the utility bills that are sent to landlords and typically passed on to tenants.

It was the city’s 2007 changeover to billing landlords instead of tenants that inadvertently eliminated the utility discount program. Landlords could not qualify for discounts on behalf of their tenants, so senior and disabled residents living in rental properties started being billed at the standard rates after the policy change went into effect.

Coffee said city employees have found and implemented a method for providing discounts to qualified renters within the utility billing software, which is why the application process is now open.

He said that because of possible rental turnover from discount-eligible tenants to ineligible tenants, the city will need to require re-validation of tenant eligibility on a periodic basis. That will most likely occur annually and will require a response within a given time frame.

The discount applications come as .