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Borough treasurer reports improving balances; billing delinquencies prompt shutoff notices
Summary
Council heard a treasurer's report showing stronger accounts and discussed customer delinquency, a $400 delinquency letter threshold and scheduled shutoff notices for unpaid water/sewer bills.
The borough treasurer reported Tuesday that bank balances and several restricted accounts have improved compared with the prior two years, and staff said delinquent utility accounts are being addressed with stepped notices and planned shutoffs.
The treasurer said the combined refuse, collections and treatment funds — which are held together and drawn from the refuse account — have moved into the positive and were “up, 600,000,” and that the borough’s fuel-related account is now “over 600,000” after the latest deposit. The treasurer said some of those fuel funds were used for the most recent paving project.
The report matters because the balances constrain near-term capital and operations decisions. Council members asked about how collections data are tracked and how delinquencies flow into enforcement. Staff described billing cycles and noted on-time payment rates had declined in recent cycles: one billing cycle dropped from 88% to 81% paid on time; another fell from about 90% to the high 70s for the most recent cycle. Staff cautioned those figures reflect how payments are applied to the oldest balances first and do not by themselves show total revenue received.
On collection actions, staff said they mailed 80 delinquency letters in February to accounts with outstanding balances greater than $400; the borough has about 1,700 active bills and staff chose $400 as the working threshold for delinquency letters. Customers who received a shutoff notice on Feb. 10 were given until March 31 — roughly 35 days — to pay or make arrangements, and borough staff said they will rerun reports after March 31 and issue shutoff notices to accounts that remain unpaid.
Council members and staff said they currently are not running a formal payment-plan program for small balances, and enforcement steps (including shutoffs) will proceed after the notice period. Staff urged residents to contact the borough office if they need help or to confirm billing status.
The treasurer’s presentation included year-over-year charts and cycle-by-cycle breakdowns of on-time payments; several council members asked for continued updates as the borough moves into the spring billing and shutoff cycle.
Looking ahead, council members also asked staff to continue sending delinquency notices and to prepare for the next round of shutoff processing after the March 31 deadline.
