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After billing migration problems, council waives April late fees and rolls $6,450 in code fines to taxes
Summary
Following a billing-system migration that produced missing and duplicate bills, the council voted to waive late fees applied to May bills for April usage; it separately approved rolling $6,450 in unpaid code-enforcement fines onto property tax bills.
The New Haven Village Council voted to waive late fees that were applied to May bills for April water usage after staff reported a billing-system migration to the BSMA cloud that produced missing and duplicate statements.
Staff said roughly 545 late-fee charges were generated (totaling approximately $5,117). Council members debated whether the village should absorb the charges because the migration may have caused some residents not to receive bills. "Although you didn't receive your bill, it doesn't waive you out of the late fee," one staffer noted from bill language; another said reversing the fees for the affected month would be a reasonable accommodation because the migration was likely the source of the problem. The motion to waive the late fees for April usage carried on roll call.
Separately, the council approved rolling unpaid code-enforcement fines totaling $6,450 onto property tax rolls for collection. Members discussed individual cases, including a marquee sign violation and whether a 501(c)(3) entity merited different treatment; council approved the roll-over motion after that discussion.
Council directed staff to document the billing error and perform a careful reconciliation to ensure reversals are applied correctly and to continue outreach on the code-enforcement accounts before tax roll placement.
