Residents who pay their utility bills on time are picking up the slack for those who don’t — whether they know it or not.

That’s just the way the system works, said city utility directors in Butler and Warren counties.

A JournalNews/Middletown Journal analysis of overdue utility bill amounts found that some cities, such as Hamilton and Trenton in Butler County and Carlisle and Lebanon in Warren County, showed an increase in the amount of utilities past due since 2010. Other cities like Middletown, Fairfield and Franklin are showing a decrease in arrearages.

But no matter which way a city is trending, utility directors said there is a consequence.

“There is no question people are hurting right now,” said Doug Childs, Hamilton’s director of energy management and utility business services. “Collection is tough enough to do, but it’s a lot tougher when times are difficult.

“If you are late on a bill, we charge a late fee,” he said. “If it gets bad enough, we will turn them over to a collection agency, but we try to work with people so they don’t get into that situation.”

In 2010, Hamilton’s overdue accounts amounted to $2,269,406. That figure increased to more than $2.3 million last year and is projected to reach more than $2.4 million by the end of this year, a 7.8-percent increase in two years.

In a smaller city like Trenton, the numbers aren’t as large, but still have a similar impact on the bottom line.

That’s why earlier this year, Trenton raised its utility deposit from $75 to $200 in hopes of knocking down the amount of unpaid bills, according to finance director Mike Engel.

“Most of our delinquency is from people who have left town,” said Engel, explaining that the deposit was increased to $200 because that was the average amount of bills that were in arrears.

Middletown did the same thing in 2010, raising its deposit from $100 to $200, according to finance director Russ Carolus.

“That has had a direct relationship to the deductions we’ve had,” Carolus said.

Middletown’s past due amounts have fallen from $141,633 in 2007 to $90,635 last year, a drop of 36 percent.

“We also actively manage outstanding balances to ensure customers don’t get in over their heads,” Carolus said. “But you are never going to collect 100 percent, so you have to build into the cost factor knowing that.”

Utility departments are standalone, meaning they depend solely on the revenue they bring in to maintain services. For the most part, utility directors agree that the majority of customers pay their bills on time.

“We do not make money,” Childs said. “For every dollar we don’t collect, other bills go up. Every rider on the base rate is influenced by non-payers. It’s frustrating, but somebody has to pay.”

Childs also said that if the outstanding monies were to be paid on time, then everyone’s rate would be lower.

“We have to make sure our rates are high enough to compensate for those who don’t pay,” Childs said. “When people don’t pay, we have to divide over a smaller denominator. It’s really no different than running a business.”

Trenton had a jump of about $25,000 in overdue payments from 2009 to 2010. The increase has been gradual since, according to Engel, who also believes the amount of overdue payments will be slightly lower than the $189,746 amount projected for the end of this year.

Engel also said “shut offs” were a pretty good method of getting people to pay, but the city will use a collection agency when necessary.

“We don’t want to shut people off,” Engel said. “It’s a headache all around, but it has a tendency to be the thing that motivates people into action.”

Carolus said Middletown also shuts people off when they fall too far behind.

“It does motivate them to pay,” he said.

Shut offs are not a primary source of action in Carlisle, however. Of the more than 1,900 utility bills the village sends out monthly, nearly 90 percent are on well water, according to finance director Julie Duffy.

“Our recourse is to assess the past due amount with the county auditor so that the amount will be added to the property tax bill as a special assessment,” Duffy said. “Anything they collect comes back to us.”

Duffy also said the moment she hands over a bill to the county, it is written off her books to avoid potential double collection.

Duffy said this year’s past due amounts has gone up compared to recent years. She speculated that paying the bill has simply become less of a priority for someone trying to make ends meet in this tough economic period.

Carlisle’s overdue amounts have increased from $74,528 in 2010 to $97,237 this year. The village is now exploring the possibility of increasing its sewer rates as one way to help compensate for the increased rates it pays, Duffy said.

Franklin dropped from $155,968 in 2010 to $141,202 last year, while Lebanon increased from $168,627 to $185,472 over the same period.

Fairfield also dropped slightly from 2010 to 2011, going from $116,227 to $109,013 past due.