Payment Plan for Tap-in Fees Now Available

residents who show financial hardship will now be eligible for a payment plan for their tap-in fees.

The Cecil Township Municipal Authority on Tuesday unanimously voted to approve a formalized payment plan—a subject that it has been mulling for the past several months.

The payment plan would have a term of at least 12 months, with payments due monthly. The authority will lien the customer’s property if even one payment is delinquent. Customers may request a payment schedule longer than 12 months, but would be subject to a lien while the payments are being made.

Customers who qualify for the payment plan will pay an interest rate equal to the authority’s bond rate is.

Authority Manager Dennis Bell will send a form letter to those customers in the Fleeher plan who still have outstanding balances and were set to be liened to offer them the payment plan.

Customers will have 30 days from the date of the letter to contact the authority about entering into a possible payment plan. If the customer fails to contact the authority, or does not qualify as a hardship case, the property will be liened.

Customers must provide income and financial data to be reviewed by the authority to prove that a hardship case exists. The income guidelines being used are from Rural Utilities Services 504 Guidelines.

Chairman Don Gennuso and authority member Leslie Peters volunteered to investigate the feasibility of a formalized payment plan after requests were made about the matter from both residents and state Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil.

the authority embarks upon if payment plans were not offered.

Reached Thursday, White said, “I’m encouraged and relieved to hear that the Cecil Township Municipal Authority is finally choosing to offer a payment plan for residents. I haven’t seen the details yet, but I hope this option will actually help people and not just pretend to in light of legitimate public criticism. Obviously I favor any policy that makes the costly but often necessary projects more affordable for some residents. I will continue to aggressively pursue payment options that would make these projects more affordable for all residents—not just in Cecil Township, but in every municipality I represent.”

He added: “We have to remember that infrastructure projects are funded with taxpayer dollars and we have an obligation to minimize the impact on the people paying for them.”

Editor's Note: A copy of the policy is attached as a PDF.