Clairton Municipal Authority

October 18,2017Dear Mr***:In response to the complaint;The landlord was responsible for the $ 1,sewage bill at the tenant’s residenceThe landlord was aware that she (the landlord) had this bill at the property and should have paid the bill prior to allowing the tenant to rent or move
into the property to be able to have water service turned on in her nameThe landlord paid the bill on September 29,The water was restored on September 29, 2017.If you require any further assistance please feel free to contact me.Regards, Jim H*** Clairton Municipal Authority Finance Director

the business response is not acceptable, I have read the policy that I received from the office manager, it states that the payment plan option is still intact, and that their office workers are empowered to offer the payment planthis is never the case because the customers service people never made an offer to our household, so what they are saying is be cause one bad apple in the bucket will spoiled the whole bucket, I think that is impractical and unfair that all of clairton has to suffer for other people mistakenot everyone can be expected to pay a high bill especially when the rates are going up for just the city of clairton and not the other areas not t mention we live on one income, my husband works full time but the take home pay is limited to cover other expense fro the utility companies, which id like to point out have been willing to assist us in paying our bills on a regular bases with the payment option plan they offeri find it hard to believe is run by a board which is by residents of clairton, i'm sure they make a decent amount to cover they portion of the waste water sewageunlike them, we don't have the luxury of working for the cityi also read in the billing policy that a 10% penalty is added on after the bill is past due, and additional .081% is added on after each month is past due, yet on the bill it says 5% is added on after the past due, with a 10% annual interest, I cannot understand how such policy are not adhered to so please explain the fees or update the policyi think that if clairtion has to pay a higher rate, then the customers should be given a chance to make payment arraignmentone final thought, what legal rights does the waste water have to tell the customers that they can have the water shut off, if the CMA is not under the water company's jurisdiction? I take that as an of threat, especially when they have no concern for my child well being

October 18,2017Dear Mr***:In response to the complaint;The landlord was responsible for the $ 1,sewage bill at the tenant’s residenceThe landlord was aware that she (the landlord) had this bill at the property and should have paid the bill prior to allowing the tenant to rent or move
into the property to be able to have water service turned on in her nameThe landlord paid the bill on September 29,The water was restored on September 29, 2017.If you require any further assistance please feel free to contact me.Regards, Jim H*** Clairton Municipal Authority Finance Director

The Clairton Municipal Authority (CMA) recognizes that there are significant fees associated with our customers who do not pay their accounts when dueWe also recognize that the rates paid by our customers may be higher in proportion to other communitiesThe CMA operates in a highly regulated
area, where there are mandates and obligations both regulatory and financial that must be metIt is not fair to the overwhelming majority of our customers who are having the same difficulty in paying their bills but do manage to pay their bills on time not to penalize those who for whatever reason do not pay in a timely fashionOur billing and collection procedures have been approved by our Board of Directors who are also customers of the CMAThe CMA has approved payment plans but our experience has been that for the most part these payment plans have been approved and as long as the water shutoff has been avoided future payments are not madeAs far as the inclusion of billed amounts within the total due to avoid a shutoff we are attempting to minimize continuous additional penalties and interest charges and other collection fees to continue to build up on past due accounts by forcing the zeroing out of the account

Review: My husband and I received a shut off notice from the waste water company in the amount of $189.30 that was dated on 11/17/2014 with the shut off date set for 12/1/2014. We were admittedly behind on the bill by $95 and some odd cents, which we have since paid using their online bill pay option. We spoke to a woman with the company today, stating that if we did not pay the remaining $95 by the first, we would receive a bulletin on our door (which we will also be charged a fee for), and 72 hours to pay it before we were officially terminated. My biggest issue with this is that in the amount of the shut off notice, they are including the $78 of our current bill which is not even due until 11/25. Their representative's reasoning for this is that by the time the 1st comes around, that bill will be past due also. My husband will be getting paid on the 4th, and we were planning to make that payment then. This "business" is staffed by rude people who are completely unwilling to even fathom helping or working out a payment plan, not even considering that their fees are completely unreasonable. Our city pays so much more than the surrounding cities do for the waste water service, which is ridiculous considering that we lived in an impoverished area. We, in particular, receive assistance on many of our bills and have an infant in the home. We cannot afford to have our water shut off....especially when we have already worked out a reasonable payment arrangement with our water company. We would appreciate your prompt assistance in this matter. Thank you very much!Desired Settlement: While I understand that it may not be feasible at the moment to revise their policies and their charging procedures, we would definitely like them to NOT include current charges that are not even due yet in their shut off notices! We would also like them to engage in better customer service practices and be willing to offer a reasonable payment plan for the city's impoverished citizens.

Business

Response:

The Clairton Municipal Authority (CMA) recognizes that there are significant fees associated with our customers who do not pay their accounts when due. We also recognize that the rates paid by our customers may be higher in proportion to other communities. The CMA operates in a highly regulated area, where there are mandates and obligations both regulatory and financial that must be met. It is not fair to the overwhelming majority of our customers who are having the same difficulty in paying their bills but do manage to pay their bills on time not to penalize those who for whatever reason do not pay in a timely fashion. Our billing and collection procedures have been approved by our Board of Directors who are also customers of the CMA. The CMA has approved payment plans but our experience has been that for the most part these payment plans have been approved and as long as the water shutoff has been avoided future payments are not made. As far as the inclusion of billed amounts within the total due to avoid a shutoff we are attempting to minimize continuous additional penalties and interest charges and other collection fees to continue to build up on past due accounts by forcing the zeroing out of the account.