Lucy Sanders, the village administrative assistant who handles utility billing, told the Village of Indian Head Park Board of Trustees on July 10 that staff has been pursuing long-overdue water accounts while preparing to switch to new billing software. “The transition to this software is the reason why there has been no utility bill sent in July,” Sanders said, noting BSNA staff will train village personnel beginning Aug. 4. Sanders said staff contacted 24 accounts with the largest overdue balances and offered a one-time courtesy adjustment of some late penalties if the accounts paid their full balance by Tuesday, July 15.

Sanders provided figures to the board: the 24 accounts carried a cumulative balance of $23,494.12, including $3,080.36 in late penalties. She said three accounts had paid in full as of the end of the business day, totaling $3,622.31, and seven additional account holders had communicated intentions to pay or to set up a payment plan once BSNA is in place. “Most of the balances are from within the last year, but some of them have not been completely paid off in 2 to 3 years,” Sanders said.

Sanders described the village’s current practice as informal: the older software did not support automated payment plans, so past “payment plans were just verbal agreements between staff and the resident.” With BSNA, she said staff will be able to create automated monthly debits to pay overdue balances over six months. She warned that accounts that have not paid in full or agreed to a formal automated plan by 9 a.m. on July 28 could be subject to water shutoffs that day; shutoff customers would be required to pay the entire balance to restore service and “They will not be offered a payment plan for it,” she said.

Village President Amy Jo Wittenberg and other trustees thanked Sanders and staff for standardizing billing practices. Sanders said staff will mail past-due notices to account holders with smaller or newer balances and will create a standard operating procedure for utility billing as the BSNA transition completes. Village Administrator Gavin said staff will use the system to make collections more consistent and to improve customer service.

No formal action was taken by the board on the report; trustees asked clarifying questions about the number of accounts, the nature of balances and the shutoff timetable, and received the numbers cited above.