In the past couple months, several Georgetown residents and business owners reported receiving scam phone calls from an individual falsely claiming to be a city of Georgetown employee and demanding payment for past-due utility bills, according to a June 21 news release.

While the Georgetown Police Department is investigating these cases, city officials said in a news release that these incidents are not representative of the city's past-due utility payment process.

"The city will advise of a past-due balance, but the city will not call you demanding money or come to your home or business demanding money," said Leticia Zavala, Georgetown Utility Systems customer care manager, in a statement.

The city has a three-step notification process in place to alert customers of overdue payments, according to the release. Customers will receive a late notice in the mail outlining the unpaid balance. If the bill remains unpaid, the customer will receive several automated phone calls informing them that the service is scheduled to be disconnected within the next week unless the bill is paid. Finally, a customer service representative will deliver a yellow card as a final notification before the service is disconnected.

The individual responsible for these false phone calls has requested financial information and immediate payment. In most cases, the caller falsely claims to be a city employee and threatens to disconnect services unless payment is received, the release said.

The city encourages residents and business owners to be aware of these incidents and call local police if they experience a scam. Anyone that is concerned or feels uneasy about an issue related to utility bill payments may contact the city of Georgetown customer care center at 512-930-3640.

"We just want to make sure that our customers understand what is happening," Zavala said.