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Village of Massena to credit back customers who paid penalty for late water bills in November

Posted 2/3/16

By ANDY GARDNER MASSENA -- Village water customers who were hit with a late fee after their November bills arrived late are getting the penalty credited back to them, as long as their accounts are in …

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Village of Massena to credit back customers who paid penalty for late water bills in November

Posted

By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Village water customers who were hit with a late fee after their November bills arrived late are getting the penalty credited back to them, as long as their accounts are in good standing, the village board voted on Tuesday.

The vote came two weeks after their Jan. 20 meeting where a similar motion failed to get enough support to reach the floor for a vote.

More than 300 bills were mistakenly sent to the Kingston Post Office, where they languished and arrived late. Customers were charged a 10 percent penalty.

“This has been a topic we’ve been looking at for quite some time. There have been iscussions … with our legal council. This is a local issue with a local law,” Mayor Tim Currier said. “It took a lot of time and research getting comfortable with the way this was written.”

Only customers who had no prior penalties for the last year are eligible, the board’s resolution says.

Village officials had previously said state law prevented them from issuing a refund.

“Unfortunately existing law tied our hands,” Trustee Matt Lebire said Jan. 20.

Currier credited Trustee Tim Ahlfeld with continuously pushing the board to find a way to give the refund.

“We’re doing what’s right,” Currier said. “Trustee Ahlfeld was doing a good job getting us to see that.”

Ahlfeld said there are no hard feelings between village officials and the post office.

“Let’s publicly state everybody makes mistakes. The Postal Service made a mistake,” he said.