Royston Allows Installment Payments for Some Water Customers

Royston utility customers who have a good credit record with the City will now be able to pay their water tap fees in installments.

At their regular meeting this month, the Royston City Council and Mayor heard from city councilman Lee Strickland.

Strickland said good paying gas customers who want city water should be allowed to pay the tap fee in six installments rather than all at once.

However, mayor David Jordan said that would require extra work for utility employees in the city hall office.  But city clerk Gloria Brown said that shouldn’t be a problem.

“We should not have many to do,” Brown told the council and mayor. “We can put a flat fee on the bill, but we will have to manually keep up with it. Y’all just have to decide what length of time you want to do. “

But according to Royston City Attorney Andrea Grant, the installment plan idea would cause the City Clerk’s office to revamp a new water contract currently being developed.

Grant said the City has a problem with some new customers’ tap applications not being recorded properly and that has led to some problems with their billing.

“When we started examining the application forms and the tap application forms, they weren’t really tied together,” Grant said. “Butch has come across some issues. Once he puts in the tap and the meter, then the water automatically flows.  So they  have run a cross some people who never came back in filled out their tap applications or paid their deposit fees.”

Grant said the city is in the process of revising the application to put both the tap application and the water application together into once contract.  Grant said it could take some time to come up with a new effective date for the amended water tap fee policy.

Brown recommended the new policy take effect July 1 at the start of the new fiscal year.

After more discussion, the board voted four to one to approve the new policy with councilman Keith Turman voting against.