Medina will allow partial payments on overdue water bills during Covid-19

MEDINA – The Medina Village Board is giving water users  a break in the village policy of insisting on full payment of late water bills.

The village sends out the bills quarterly. It allows 21 days after a bill is due before notifying the water customer the water will be shut off.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the village didn’t send out a shut-off notice. But now about a dozen users are facing two quarterly bills, with some of them in the $900 to $1,000 range.

One landlord, Matt Mundion, asked the village to allow partial payments to make the bills more manageable for water customers.

Village Trustee Tim Elliott said he supports the partial payments because the village is likely to get some revenue rather than being more likely to get nothing from those water customers. If the bill isn’t paid and the water is turned off, the landlord is usually stuck with the full bill.

Accepting a partial payment can create an “accounting nightmare” for the village clerk’s office, which typically has only accepted full payments in the past, and has only let the payments lag for a quarter, said Debbie Padoleski, village clerk-treasurer.

The village has only allowed partial payments in the case of a big water leak resulting in a very large bill.

The Village Board, which met Saturday after last Monday’s meeting was cancelled due to the big rainstorm, agreed that water customers with two late quarterly bills must pay at least the full amount of one of those quarters to keep the water from being shut off. The second quarter bill needs to be paid before the next bill comes out in three months.

In other action at Saturday’s meeting:

• The board accepted a bid for $27,961 from Delacey Ford in Elma for a new Ford F150 truck for the Water Department.

• Voted to have Auctions International sell old playground equipment and bikes. This doesn’t include the Snail at Pine Street Park. The Snail is staying, Mayor Mike Sidari said.

• Agreed to allow the Medina cross country team to use Boxwood Cemetery for two home meets on Oct. 13 and Oct. 20, if the season is allowed in the fall. The Village Board made one stipulation that any paint with directional arrows needs to be on grass and not the roads in the cemetery.

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