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Canfield city water bill conflict runs on
VINDICATOR EXCLUSIVE
CANFIELD
After more than six meetings and $3,300 paid in councilmen’s salaries, the discussion of a $46 late fee will continue at Canfield City Council meetings.
In August, Edward Stefanides of Briarcliff Drive wrote a check to pay his water bill for the wrong month, leading to a late fee issued by the city.
Since then, much conversation has ensued among council members as to whether or not to waive the fee because of a mere mistake.
Councilman Joe LoCicero proposed waiving the fee due to Stefanides’ good payment history, but was met with opposition from several other members.
“It will be opening Pandora’s Box,” said Atty. Mark Fortunato at an October meeting.
Council President Don Dragish agreed that it wasn’t in the city’s best interest to set a precedent for fee waiving.
With the issue still unresolved, debate will continue into 2017, and another meeting’s wages will be paid to councilmen who average $125 per meeting, $175 for the president.
Council Clerk Patty Bernat provided the councilmen’s salaries that tallied $3,300 from September until now. Although the water bill discussion is not all that the council debates during its sessions, the topic has consumed a lot of time.
“When you drive into Canfield, the sign reads, ‘Welcome to Canfield, the city that cares,’” LoCicero said. “It should be added, ‘Unless you screw up your water bill.’”
He explained there are two rules of thought: “You break the rules, you pay the consequences or the exceptions. If they have a very good payment record and they make a mistake, we should cut them a break.”
LoCicero said fee payments are not built into the budget, so they are not as stringent as people would like to believe.
Finance Director Christine Clayton said there is a separate revenue account made specifically for late-fee penalties.
In 2015, more than $32,000 in late fees were collected from various bills including water and sanitary sewer.
In another previous meeting, Clayton said it would take too much time for the city to take each late-fee circumstance into special consideration.
Council members in favor of the waiver have an ongoing debate as to the specific language to put in a motion moving forward.
“I understand government processes take time, and I think it could be because of a council or a government body with philosophical differences,” LoCicero said. “What we have to have in the back of our minds is that our beliefs as individuals and beliefs as a group for the city are different.”
He suggested voting first to alleviate the issue dealing directly with Stefanides’ late fee, then talking about what kind of rules to make regarding the situation moving forward.
The next city council meeting is at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 21.