BOARD OF CONTROL Water customers can pay bill by credit card

The commissioner expects the option to reduce delinquent and late payments.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Can't come up with the cash to pay your Youngstown Water Department bill?
If you have a Visa or MasterCard credit card, the water department will allow you to use it for bill payments beginning mid-June.
"We've had a lot of calls asking us to allow payments by credit cards," said city Water Commissioner Charles Sammarone. "People would come in to our office with delinquent bills, and they didn't have cash or a check with them. They asked if they could use a credit card, and soon, they'll be able to do that."
The water department will only accept credit card purchases at its office in city hall, and not by mail, he said.
The city's board of control approved legislation Friday allowing the water department to enter into a credit card processing agreement with Sky Bank. The water department will pay $630 to Sky Bank for setup costs and for a credit card processing machine.
Also, Sky Bank will get a 1.95 percent service fee for every credit card payment to the water department.
Sammarone expects the credit card option to reduce delinquent and late payments.
The department saw an improvement in payments when it gave customers the option to have their water fees automatically taken out of their checking accounts, Sammarone said. About 2,500 customers are using that service, which began about six months ago.
Other details
The department sends monthly bills to 58,000 people in the city as well as Austintown, and parts of Boardman, Canfield, Liberty, Girard and Weathersfield.
The city purchases its water in bulk amounts from the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, which gets the water from Meander Reservoir. The city tacks on a 40-percent surcharge to the bills of water customers who don't live in Youngstown.
The city is looking to expand its customer base. Mahoning County plans to build a water tower and lines in North Jackson. The county would buy water in bulk amounts from the city and sell it to people living in North Jackson west to Craig Beach, Sammarone said.
The board of control approved legislation Friday to have the water department enter into a contract with the county commissioners for the purchase of bulk water.
The amount of water used by water department customers has decreased by about one-third in the past decade. The city pumped about 30 million gallons of water a day 10 years ago, and now pumps about 20 million gallons a day.
The city is working on a capital improvement program for its water department including the installation of new waterlines to repair old ones and the replacement of the 200,000-gallon, 75-year-old Kirk Road water tank in Austintown with a higher tower with a tank capacity of 1.5 million gallons.
The department has increased water rates by 8.5 percent annually for the past two years to pay for capital improvements and to cover operating costs. The city will increase its water rates by 5.5 percent in 2005.
skolnick@vindy.com