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PHOENIX - Owe money to a city for power, gas and water and the chances are you will be hearing from a bill collector.

Cash strapped cities in Arizona say their staffs lack the expertise, resources, and time to track down delinquent consumers. The cities say this means that private collection effort help keep residents' utility costs low.

Mesa uses a collection agency and last year, it recouped $1.4 million.

Peoria has used collection agencies for eight years.

The utility billing and revenue manager for Surprise says the city started using a collection agency and recovered 32 percent of past-due water and sewage bills.