Fri Feb 10 2012
by Jeff Saunders
Reporter
Northfield Village -- Nearly one in six village property owners failed to pay their sewer maintenance fees on time, and the village will get an extra $15,000 because of it.
Village Council Aug. 25 agreed to ask the Summit County Fiscal Office to place $26,000 in unpaid sanitary and stormwater sewer maintenance fees on 205 property owners' 2010 property tax bills. Those owners will also be billed an additional $75 per property, or $15,375, bringing the total to about $41,400.
"It's a penalty," said Village Law Director Brad Bryan, adding all the money will go into the village's sewer maintenance fund.
"It's extra money for the village, but it's a pain because we get the money late," he added.
Mayor Victor Milani said the $15,000 in fees will be used to help pay the $35,000 annual payment on a $160,000 sewer jetter, which uses a high pressure blast of water to clean out sewer lines. The village purchased the machine last year and will have it paid off in 2013.
"It's money we would have to get from someplace else, taking it away from somewhere else," said Milani.
Village Finance Director Robert Riedel said the county will also add a 4-percent administrative charge of about $1,450 to the overall bill.
"Unfortunately, now it's going to their taxes and their bill will be higher," said Village Councilor John Bolek after the vote.
Riedel said the residential maintenance fee is $31.90 per quarter and most of the 205 properties are residential. According to village ordinances, owners of commercial properties are charged $63.80 quarterly.
Riedel said that adding unpaid sewer maintenance fees to the property tax bill is done yearly. However, he said, the number of properties incurring unpaid fees has increased in the past few years.
Riedel said there are 1,289 properties in the village whose owners are billed for sewer maintenance costs, with the number delinquent in 2010 representing nearly 16 percent of the total.
In 2008 and 2009, said Riedel, the owners of 158 and 159 properties, or about 12 percent of village landowners, had unpaid sewer maintenance fees tacked onto their property tax bills.
In addition, he said, while the total in unpaid fees and penalties were about $30,000 in 2008, it jumped to about $38,000 in 2009. Riedel said this indicates that while the number of properties was about the same, at least some of the owners were further behind in paying the fees last year than in 2008.
By comparison, in 2004, the owners of 122 properties were billed about $26,600 in unpaid fees and penalties.
Milani attributed the increase to the economy.
"Times are tough," he said. "We're doing the best we can and we're trying to keep the costs as low as we can."
E-mail: jsaunders@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3169
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