Town targets $271K in outstanding water bills

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By PETE FONTAINE

The town is moving forward with plans to target delinquent water bills, and a September shutoff date looms for those who do not pay their balance in full in the coming weeks.

“It’s not to be mean. It’s just to make sure that these people pay … We’re going to really force the issue,” Mayor Joseph Polisena told the Town Council on Monday.

Polisena said the outstanding water payments are spread between 1,800 customers – both residential and commercial, representing roughly 30 percent of all customers the Water Department serves – and total more than $271,000.

The mayor said those who have not paid their bills by Sept. 7 would have their service disconnected, which carries a $50 charge. There is another $50 charge associated with reconnecting service.

Polisena also said payment plans will not be offered as an option.

“We’ve done that in the past, and a taxpayer only makes one payment,” he said. “This time, there are no exceptions, and we are not going to offer any payment plans whatsoever.”

The push on water bills comes as the town wraps up a major re-certification effort on the Homestead Exemption, which was established in 2007 and allows qualifying homeowners to pay taxes on 80 percent of their property’s value rather than the full amount.

The town had not previously had a re-application process in place for the exemption, and Polisena said the re-certification was meant to weed out those violating the spirit of the tax credit or using local addresses to allow out-of-town students to attend Johnston’s schools.

The mayor voiced similar concerns in terms of the outstanding water bills.

“I don’t want our taxpayers having to subsidize water for the people who are not playing their water bill,” he said. “We need to get paid. This is a lot of money on the books.”

The mayor has, to this point, declined to release the list of those owing water payments.

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  • jtaxassoc

    Things must be pretty bad when you can't pay a water bill, which truly are unreasonably high. Bottom line, we can pay town workers endless holidays, sick days, vacations, life insurance policies, longevity bonuses, the Cadillac of family healthcare for a few penny's on the dollar, hefty pensions, continued fully paid healthcare upon retirement, minimum staffing overtime in the hundreds of $thousands annually etcetera, etcetera, etcetera... However, most town residents simply don't care. They love unnecessarily oppressive taxation via the above which is only half of the legalized criminality... Peter A. Filippi III

    Friday, July 17, 2015 Report this

  • doreen

    http://patch.com/rhode-island/johnston/water-bill-deadbeats-beware

    Check out this link regarding outstanding water bills.

    This has been ongoing since 2011.

    Why is this allowed to continue?

    Who is in charge of that department and why do they still have their job?

    Wednesday, July 22, 2015 Report this