GORDON - The problems with sewer account delinquencies is still being addressed in the borough.
The delinquencies were discussed during last week's borough council meeting, according to council President Michael Rader.
"We've tried to collect tens of thousands of dollars of sewage delinquents and we've been doing a very good job in collecting, but the delinquent accounts have grown about $5,000 since last month," Rader said.
In the current billing quarter, the delinquent accounts total more than $43,000, which is up from $38,000 in the previous quarter.
"It is sort of discouraging," Rader said. "We've collected a large amount of delinquent money on the order of about $10,000 since the spring. We may just be caught in a discrepancy between billing and payment where people are showing as delinquent. It's always surprising when we read the delinquents total at the meeting and the citizens in attendance are surprised that it continues to increase even though we're doing a good job at collecting."
Gordon has its own sewage distribution system, which is connected to the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority treatment plant. The borough has been battling sewer delinquencies for years, which at one point totaled slightly more than $100,000.
"We have two options available to the borough," Rader said. "For the folks who are on residential public water, we have the ability to turn the water off. For those who are on wells, the option is liens on the homes. That is always difficult. The delinquents who we have collected from came after we turned off water or notified them that we would do that. We spend time to make sure we do all the right things to collect these outstanding balances."
The 2014 operating budget will be adopted at a special meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 26.
Rader said the budget is still in the works.
"The budget is looking very good," Rader said. "I'm very happy at least with the initial numbers. It's not even at the end of the year and we're in good shape in this year's revenue estimates in the current budget, so that is encouraging. I think we're doing a lot of the right things."
Rader said the formal budget adoption will be done at the regular monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 10.
In other business, borough council approved a resolution for municipal adoption of the Schuylkill County Hazard Mitigation Plan, which was recently updated. The plan, which had been last updated in 2007, is designed to better prepare for winter storms, floods, hurricanes and droughts. The updated plan now includes plans to deal with blight and nuclear power plant failure.