Oct 19, 2020 3 min read

In frustration over unpaid garbage fees, Canonsburg officials are going to start pursuing liens on properties.

According to borough Councilman Rich Russo, the borough has more than $257,200 in delinquent bills, late fees and filing costs relating to garbage pickup.

“No one has done a good job of collecting them,” Russo said. “That’s what prompted the investigation.”

The borough contracts with Jordan Tax Service Inc. for collection services for garbage fees. Russo said he and other borough officials met with Jordan representatives to find out why they weren’t getting any of the money back.

“It wasn’t that they weren’t doing their job,” Russo said. “They were given bad direction by the borough in the past.”

Council President R.T. Bell said a previous council, one that predates his involvement in 2016, had allegedly told Jordan Tax Service that they didn’t want liens put on properties due to garbage fees.

“You don’t like to go after people, but these bills are getting so high,” Bell said. “It isn’t that all the people can’t afford to pay; some are just not paying. It’s just gone on long enough.”

Bell said council began discussing the unpaid garbage fees at the beginning of the year, but when the COVID-19 pandemic began, other discussions took precedence. They’ve since resumed their determination to see the money restored to the borough, Bell said.

“We’re just trying to get this moving again,” Bell said. “We want everybody to get the bill caught up. We’re just trying to get the money back into the borough, because we could use the money just like anybody else.”

Russo said along with starting to notify property owners of liens, the borough decided to start billing property owners only – no tenants. That way there’s no confusion over whether or not a bill is being paid.

“It’s a work in progress,” Russo said. “We all have agreed we’re willing to work with folks to set up a payment plan. We believe, based on Jordan’s history with other municipalities, that we should be able to collect 40% of this money.”

Bell said it’s a “lengthy list” of folks throughout the borough who haven’t paid their garbage bills. Most he said are in the $400 to $800 range for what they owe, while others are in the thousands. He said many properties on the list are in the $1,000 range, with a few in the $2,000 to $3,000 range. The highest he’s seen for one property is about $4,000, Bell said.

“Maybe there’s some people that are out of work and just got behind, but some of these people just haven’t paid, and they’ve never made any move to do anything about it,” Bell said. “If you’re having some problems, call up and say, ‘Hey, here’s why I’m not paying it.’ We’re hoping a lot of people will step up and make arrangements to get it paid because we’re willing to work with them.”