The county has been picking up the tab for a number of water and sewer customers, but on Thursday the Public Service Authority Board approved measures they hope will help collect the funds owed and prevent future occurrences.
Beginning Aug. 1, customers will have 60 days from the date on the invoice to pay their bill or their service can be suspended.
Additionally, liens will be placed on property and filed in the circuit court, for those who owe $300 or more for failure to pay the required access or availability fee. The amount of the lien will continue to increase if future bills are not paid, according to Alan Black, county attorney.
The board also discussed other collection measures after learning the total overdue for service as of Thursday was $16,386, including a high of nearly $2,300 overdue from a single customer, according to discussion at the meeting. Access fees owed to the PSA totaled $21,491, including a high of $1,751.18 from single customers.
“We’ve been trying to be nice guys. Now is not the time to be nice guys” given the county’s financial woes, Scott Eutsler, chairman of the PSA board, said Thursday. “We’ve got some significant money owed to us now.”
Black said there are basically two primary issues: one is customers who do not pay their bills and the other is those who fail to pay the required availability fee.
In an earlier interview, Ruth Russell, the PSA’s board clerk, explained that property owners within 150-feet of the water line are required to pay what is called an availability fee – basically the $28.96 monthly minimum amount for water, even though they do not use the service.
Russell said that fee was required by the USDA, which loaned the county the funds for the water and sewer project.
If all of the 38 property owners required to pay the fee actually paid it each month, the availability fee in the current fiscal year would have generated monthly revenues of $1,100.48, according to PSA documents.
Only a third, or about 13 property owners, actually pay the required monthly fee, she said records showed.
That means revenues generated by the availability fee are $376.96 per month. The general fund is tapped to cover the remaining monthly amount of $732.52, Russell said.
That means more than $150,000 will come from the county’s coffers in the upcoming fiscal year to pay the debt on the water and sewer service in areas of Patrick Springs.
Donna Shough, finance officer for the county, earlier said the PSA fund includes water and sewer. The agency’s budget anticipates revenues of $83,000 for water and $24,000 for sewer.
The county will “transfer in,” or tap the general fund to pay the additional total of $158,648, including $51,044 for water and $107,604 for sewer, to make the debt service payment on the system.
The amount transferred in would be less if all of those required to pay actually did pay, Shough has said.
“We have not sued anybody for lack of payment or filed a lien” against any property owner who has failed to pay the required availability fee, Black said in an earlier interview. “We keep talking about it, but we haven’t pulled the trigger.”
Also among those attending the meeting were Stuart Town Manager Terry Tilley and Town Attorney Chris Corbett.
The PSA board includes representatives of each district, according to online information. In addition to Eutsler, of the Peters Creek District, other members include Rodney Kendrick, of the Mayo River District; Karl Weiss, of the Blue Ridge District who also serves on the Patrick County Board of Supervisors and Anna Clark Lester, who was recently appointed to represent the Smith River District. Currently, the Dan River District is vacant.
The board holds a regular annual meeting, but may hold additional meetings throughout the year if needed.
Also on Thursday, the board:
*Voted against a proposal to spend more than an estimated $20,000 installing a pump and associated equipment to provide water service, as requested by a potential residential customer who lives along U.S. 58.
