By Courtney L. Anderson
SHARON — Sharon Sanitary Authority staff continue to battle a sewer bill delinquency rate of about 20 percent in the city.
They’re doing that with further threats of water shutoffs once the weather warms, another slew of property liens and payment agreements for those who’ve gotten behind.
Authority Manager Guy Cunningham said the standard agreement authorized by the board of directors is for debtors to pay half of what’s owed up front and then make double payments until they’re caught up.
And once someone reneges on a pact to pay up, the rules say they can’t execute another agreement with the authority, Cunningham said. He said customers may be given a chance to get the old deal up to date, however.
But the longer people wait to settle a bill, the more interest and penalties build up, he said.
Those who can prove hardship may be granted different arrangements by the authority’s hardship committee, Cunningham said.
Cunningham said they got a handful of calls from people after a list of about 260 people who owe more than $700,000 in back sewer bills that was published Feb. 12 in The Herald after an eight-month legal battle over the records being public.
Some of those were from people claiming someone on the list had been dead for years, Cunningham said. Sometimes family move in to a home after someone dies but never change the name on the deed, he said.
Others were from people who said they sold the property in question, but Cunningham said the authority was not notified of the change in title.
Cunningham said that the authority is not automatically notified through Mercer County records if a property is transferred. The only time they are is if a home is sold at a sheriff’s sale, he said.
Normally, when a home is sold the realtor or attorney involved in the deal contacts the authority and fills out a standard form, Cunningham said.
People who handle transfers without a lawyer or realtor must prove ownership to the authority before the account name can be changed, Cunningham said. Debts are settled at closing and the new owner starts off fresh, he said.
Things can get tricky as a property changes hands. Cunningham said he knew of one house in the city that has been sold four times in the past year.
Land contracts can also make knowing who’s responsible for sewer bills more complicated. The law says the owner is liable for the bills, but Cunningham said the sales agreement must be filed in the Mercer County Recorder’s office in order for them to accept it as a transfer of ownership for billing purposes.
He also stressed that if someone buys property they incur all the liens attached to it, including those for back sewer bills. The authority filed 150 such liens last year.
Many of the problems authority staff are dealing with now pre-date the authority running the system on its own, Cunningham said.
The authority was formed in fall 2007 as city officials were securing bonds to pay for a new $45 million wastewater treatment plant, which recently completed construction. It’s developed its own billing system and integrated several databases since taking over last March from Aqua and dropping an outside collection agency for delinquents in the fall.
When Aqua Pennsylvania handled the sewer bills for Sharon, the names on the city’s accounts were changed when water accounts changed hands, Cunningham said.
He said the authority is working with the water company to get updates on service starts or terminations from them on a regular basis to help keep the authority’s records up to date.
“It’s a constant work in progress,” Cunningham said, pointing out that the authority is new at handling billing and delinquent accounts. “We’ve not even done our 11th bill yet.”
