MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown Utility Board (MUB) is temporarily altering an existing deferred payment policy in order to accommodate water and sewer customers impacted by the ongoing partial shutdown of the federal government.
MUB’s board of directors enacted the relief on Monday. It will allow approved customers to put off utility payments until after the shutdown ends.
General Manager Tim Ball explained that it’s not just for furloughed federal workers or government contractors, but anyone who can prove a financial hardship due to the shutdown. As an example, he said customers impacted by potential disruptions to the federal food stamp program could also qualify for relief.
As MUB also handles billing for Republic’s trash and recycling pickup in the city, Morgantown City Manager Paul Brake said the relief will also extend to trash billing. Brake said additional information will be presented at this evening’s Morgantown City Council meeting.
Brake noted it will be the same as what MUB approved Monday, which includes three provisions:
Payment deferral accommodations will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Customers will have to contact MUB directly and apply for deferred payment accommodations.
Customers will need to be able to demonstrate specifically how they are impacted by the shutdown, which could include proof of federal employment or enrollment in a federal program that has been disrupted.
“We will keep track of the accumulated past due balance and we will give them six months after the federal shutdown has ended to spread that accumulated balance out and pay it in increments on top of their next bill,” Ball said, adding that if the shutdown extends beyond May, the repayment period would likely need to be extended.
Ball said that simply suspending billing to impacted customers isn’t a viable option for a number of reasons, including fear the state’s public service commission could find it discriminatory as the utility doesn’t suspend billing for anyone else who gets laid off or goes without pay for an extended period.
By altering an existing program that is already available to all customers — which offers assistance with past-due bills on the condition that the current bill is paid — Ball said the utility can offer assistance to the greatest number of people without fear of such claims.
In other MUB news, Ball said the utility has agreed to purchase the former Dinsmore Tire property — located at 195 Don Knotts Boulevard next to the existing MUB treatment plant — for $743,000.
He explained that the original asking price was $925,000 and the appraised value of the property is $760,000.
MUB doesn’t have immediate plans for the property, which will be used to accommodate future expansion.
An existing leasee on the property, nonprofit bicycle recycling program Positive Spin, will be given a short-term lease by MUB in order to allow it to find a new location.
Ball said the lease could be extended if needed, but MUB wants to clear the property as soon as possible once it receives a Brownfield grant to work on the contaminated site.
“We do not have any intention to be a long-term landlord there,” Ball said.
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