Apr 11, 2002 By Jackie Beranek 2 min read

Herald-Standard DUNBAR – The Dunbar Borough/Dunbar Township Sanitary Authority will send out notices this week to people who have not paid their sewage bill over the past thee months.

Authority Chairman Anthony Tristani said Wednesday that delinquent accounts are costing the authority between $2,500 and $2,600 a month. In addition there are an estimated 116 residents and commercial customers who still owe the $950 tap-in fee.

“It’s time to take some action with these people,” said Tristani. “The notices will give people a certain amount of time to pay what they owe and after that we’ll have to have their water shut off.”

The sewage authority entered into an agreement earlier this year with the North Fayette County Municipal Authority to discontinue water service for unpaid bills. However, under the agreement, a sewage authority official must accompany a water authority representative.

Solicitor Gretchen Mundorff said the sewage authority member has the authorization to accept full payment on the spot. “That person is empowered to accept a check if the person who owes the money writes a check,” said Mundorff. “That person also has the authority to check on information the delinquent customer might provide pertaining to an authority oversight.”

Tristani said an oversight might be something like the delinquent customer didn’t receive a bill or sent the payment in and it got lost in the mail. Tristani said, however, if water service is severed it will cost the customer about $100 to get it turned back on.

One board member asked about water being shut off to customer’s homes that have children and Tristani said it doesn’t matter. “As long as they owe the money we have the right to shut off their water until they pay the bill. It’s not fair to all of the customers who are paying their bills on time to let the delinquents slide.”

Widmer Engineering Inc. engineer Donald Reho said shutting off the water seems to do the trick in other communities that he serves. “Once people know you are serious they pretty much make their payments on time,” said Reho.

In other unrelated matters, the board agreed to get grass-cutting bids from several local people who provide that service. Tristani said that the grass-cutting service is needed at the authority building in Dunbar and at the plant.

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