ASHLAND - The Ashland Area Municipal Authority and Ashland borough are continuing their efforts to collect on delinquent water accounts, including placing liens on properties.
Borough Manager Thomas Joyce made the report on delinquent accounts at the July 30 AAMA meeting. The water authority owns the water system, including the reservoir, water treatment plant and distribution system, with the borough under contract with the authority to operate the system on a day-to-day basis, including billing and collections.
"I informed the board at the meeting that we have shut off four more people in the past week," Joyce said after the meeting. "The borough solicitor, James Diehl, has put 25 to 30 liens on properties in the last month. Most of those properties are vacant where people have left and they're up for sale."
Since the next billing cycle is being prepared, the total delinquencies are not available now, Joyce said, but should be by the next authority meeting Aug. 27.
"We are progressing in collecting on the past-due accounts," Joyce said. "We are monitoring the situation when we have to shut off service when people don't live up to their agreements."
In January, the authority board approved the policy that sets the guidelines for a delinquent customer who wants to pay the outstanding balance on the account over a period of time and stay current with future bills. Periodic payments on delinquent amounts will be accepted, subject to the following conditions:
- The total delinquency shall be satisfied within a period of 10 months from the date of the initial payment.
- Periodic payments shall be made at monthly intervals on the same date each month.
- Periodic payments shall be $125 or 10 percent of the total amount due and owing, whichever is greater.
- In order to be provided with water service, and in addition to the periodic payments, current bills from the date of the initial periodic payment forward shall be paid in full prior to any such bills due date.
- As of the date of the first payment, there shall be a moratorium with respect to additional interest and late fees. Such a moratorium shall cease if any of the provisions hereof are violated by any customer. If service has been terminated, the authority shall restore such service at the time of the initial payment. Any reconnection or restoration fees shall be added to the amount due. Service shall continue so long as the customer continues to comply with the terms of this policy.
The policy also includes the granting of waivers to delinquent customers who apply in writing to the authority board asking to make payments in lesser amounts if there is a showing of economic or medical hardship.
In other business, the technical review process continues between the authority and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for the DEP-mandated reservoir upgrade.
During the July 30 meeting, Joyce said that Alfred Benesch & Co. senior designer Natalie L. O'Connor, EIT, told the AAMA board that the latest questions from DEP have been answered.
"The engineer reported that they (Benesch) got other questions from DEP, and O'Connor said the questions have been answered and now they're waiting for DEP for its reply," Joyce said.
The authority is planning the DEP-mandated improvements at its reservoir in Butler Township that will raise the crest of the reservoir by six feet above its current height. The improvement will allow the reservoir to hold more than its current capacity of 110 million gallons during major storm events. The increased height will permit large amounts of storm water to leave the reservoir in a more controlled fashion through the spillway instead of flowing over the dam crest, thereby increasing safety for areas below the reservoir.
The authority is also planning an upstream closure project at the dam in response to another DEP mandate.
In a related matter, O'Connor said that the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PennVEST) has extended the deadline until February 2013 on the use of the $650,000 low-interest loan for the project. The estimated project cost is about $1 million.
Joyce said that the reservoir water level is at one foot, 10 inches, below overflow, or 90 percent capacity, with the reduction due to the reduced rainfall in recent weeks.
The authority will soon seek bids for repairs of the water storage tank at 22nd Street. Repairs of leaks were made in late 2010 with the idea that permanent repairs would be done at a later time.
"It's a temporary fix now, but now we're trying to get the permanent fix on the inside," Joyce said. "The estimated cost is about $155,000, which is the number received by Benesch from a tank company."
The water storage tank at the top of town has a capacity of one million gallons.