Borough Disagrees With Sewage Authority Treasurer

by David Croyle

Ford City Borough now is saying the sewage authority owes them money.

This development follows allegations last week by the treasurer of the Ford City Borough Municipal Sewage Disposal Authority (FCBMSDA) Brenda Vargo that Ford City Borough had not made over $7,000 of payments to the sewage authority. Some past due payments dated back to 2006.

The unique aspect of the latest finger pointing is that Paul Harmon is on both sides. He is a newly-appointed board member to FCBMSDA and also serves as treasurer on Ford City Council.

“I was quite taken back when Brenda released this information at our last sewage authority public meeting,” Harmon said. “Until that meeting, no one had spoken directly to me about the issue.”

Harmon acknowledged that the Borough owed $4,674.22 from 2006 and 2007. However, that information only surfaced when auditors reported their findings after completing audits from 2006, 2007, and 2008 earlier this year.

Harmon said that since the sewage authority has not completed their 2009 audit, they are not aware that sufficient payments have been posted that seems to indicate the Borough has overpaid FCBMSDA by $316.50.

“We only know what happened through 2008,” FCBMSDA Solicitor Chuck Pascal said. “We do not know about 2009 yet. We will find out when the 2009 audit is complete. They may be right. We don’t know that yet. If they paid us back, there should have been some notification that told us they added in an amount for past due revenue. Then we would know and there wouldn’t be the back and forth thing going on.”

Pascal said the problem is in the paper trail. “When the Borough bills for sewage, they deposit the amount in the FCBMSDA account. FCBMSDA, in turn, reimburses the Borough for the staff costs in reading meters, billing, and collecting the revenue generated from sewage customers. Until the audit takes place, and our auditors compare the Borough books with our books, we have no idea if we have received all the revenue that is due to us.”

Pascal went on to explain the relationship between the Borough and FCBMSDA.

“We pay half of (the billing clerk) Patty, half of the meter reader, and a third of (the Borough Secretary) Lisa’s salary. When they raise their salaries, we still pay a third of whatever the higher number is. In the 1980s when this agreement was put together, it may very well have been the case that a third of the Borough Secretary’s time was spent doing this, but that is not the case anymore. Patty does the water, sewage and garbage billing. So we pay half of that. She does all of that, adds it up, prepares a deposit slip, gives it to Lisa who then takes it to the bank and we are still paying a third of her salary for that amount of work. When the agreement was done, the meter reader had to go into houses and read meters. They have since put new meters in where they go by and can read the meter from the street so there is a lot less time taken. That meter reader also works on the garbage truck, works on the streets, whatever, but we are still paying for half of his overall salary, not just half the time he spends reading meters, which was the intent.”

Harmon said the Borough’s finance committee has been examining the records and anticipates resolving the issue with the FCBMSDA.

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