The deadline is looming.
Scott Twp. residents along the central sewer line have four days to pay the $88 monthly sewer bill - the highest rate in Lackawanna County - before they'll be in violation of the authority's Saturday deadline.
Just how many will pay, and whether the delinquency rate will skyrocket after the recent rate hike, will remain unknown until then.
"We really don't know how many people are going to pay," Michael Giannetta, a township supervisor and sewer authority board member, said Monday. "We really don't know. Only time will tell."
On Oct. 23, board members approved a rate resolution that finalized the $9.60, or 12 percent, increase in the monthly sewer rate from $78.40 to $88. At the meeting, residents argued such a hike would only increase the number of delinquencies - citing the need to pay higher electric bills during the winter months. One resident, Colette Hughes, even suggested a boycott of the bill.
But a boycott would only lead to the engineering company shutting down the central sewer system, Mr. Giannetta said.
"People wouldn't be able to flush their toilets," he said. "That's not an option."
In a letter to U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, R-10, Lycoming Twp., asking for the congressman's assistance in trying to refinance a 40-year loan through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, board members voiced their concern that if the rate increased, so would the number of delinquencies.
"Unfortunately, increasing the rate will only hurt the people we are trying to serve and help. Increasing the rate will only increase delinquencies and additional legal fees for collection," the letter states.
As of Oct. 23, 72 accounts were delinquent on their monthly payments by at least 90 days, totaling $69,000 owed to the sewer authority. Since then, both numbers have decreased, board members said.
However, if the number of delinquencies climbs in light of the recent rate hike, residents could see an even higher bill.
"It would take quite a bit (of more delinquencies), but it could raise the rate," said sewer authority board Chairman Mike Grant, who said he didn't think the number of delinquencies would increase. "We'll have to wait and see. We will know a lot more in mid-November."
Contact the writer: miorfino@timesshamrock.com, @miorfino@TT on Twitter