Too much work, takes too much time.

To be specific, going out and placing notices of approaching water service termination on doors of homes whose residents haven’t paid their utility charges.

These are among the reasons the City of Auburn has cited for changing the way it notifies property owners that their water service is about to be turned off and placing liens on their property.

In the main, the new rules extend the time water service customers have to pay up, as follows:

• Payment for water service charges are due and payable to the City’s finance department office 20 days after the billing date on the bill, not 15 days, which had been the case.

• Twenty-five days after the billing date, the City will add a late fee to the billing, and 42 days after the billing date, the City mails a shutoff notice to a premise’s address and to the owner’s address on file with the City.

• The ordinance changes the placement of physical door tags to mailed notification from the time of billing to shutoff from 43 to 49 days.

• Commercial and multi-family service class accounts will continue to receive at least a two-hour warning prior to service interruption.

The mailings will go to the owner of record and the occupant of the premises.

State law and accommodating mail delivery are the reasons behind the increase from 20 to 25 days and the shutoff from 43 to 49 days, according to Finance Director Shelley Coleman.