Senator Smith:

I am writing to you as president of the Washington Township Regional Sewage District, a district located in Washington Township, Clark County.

It has come to my attention that HB1117 will soon be considered by the Senate and there are constituencies which may wish to amend the bill to prevent Regional Sewage Districts (RSD) from filing liens on past due accounts.  Our residents are served by Washington Township water Corporation, a co-op.  The RSD has, on many occasions, approach the water corp and requested their cooperation to disconnect water service from customers who are in arrears on their sewer bill.  They have consistently refused to do this as they are uncertain of its legality.  That leaves us with two options to collect past due accounts: we can file a lien on the property or, after notifying the County Health Department, disconnect the sewer line serving the property.  We have regularly filed liens to collect past due accounts and this method has been quite effective.  Our bylaws permit us to use the disconnect for persistent offenders but we have not, to this date, done so as it is quite expensive for the property owner and will also result in the County Health Department immediately condemning the property.

If language is added to HB1117 to prevent us filing liens, we will have to resort to disconnection to enforce collections.  This is a severe unintended consequence which I don’t think the Senate wishes to see happen.  I therefore urge you to vote against any amendment which would prohibit the RSD from filing liens. An amendment which specifically allows cooperation between water corporations and RSDs to disconnect water service to enforce payment of past due sewer bills, however, would be quite helpful.

Thank you.

Ronald L Repp
Washington Township Regional Sewage District

The Indiana legislature is considering two bills which impact the operation of regional sewer districts:  House Bill 1117 andHouse Bill 1225.

The above links lead to the text of the bills.  Here are links to a summary: HB1117  HB1125

The Indiana Regional Sewer District ASsociation has analyzed these bills and provided comments available here:  HB 1117  HB 1225

Primary impacts of this legislation are as follows:

HB 1117

Allows people with a functioning “sewage disposal system” to be exempt from connecting to a sewer system.  Failure to require connection will increase the costs for all those connected and increase rates for all while having deleterious impacts on public health. Also note that a “sewage disposal system” could include a cesspool or an outhouse.

HB 1225:

1. Allows people with functioning septic systems to opt out of connecting to a sewer system.    This would increase the rate all must pay by reducing the number of connections to the system.

2.  Prevents charging for lots during construction. We have not been faced with this but when a system must be expanded to accommodate new developments, the initial charges for lots under development are used to make the initial bond payments.

3. Eliminates the ability for districts to file liens on property to collect bills. With no other method of enforcement to collect past due bills, we will be forced to disconnect people from the sewer system, a costly and lengthy process.  This is very expensive for the ratepayer and may result in their property being condemned by the health department.

HB 1225

WTRSD is a member of the Indiana Regional Sewer District Association, a group which provides us with many valuable services.  They have prepared a list of legislation introduced in the 2012 session that impacts the operation of regional sewer districts.

A copy of the report is provided for your information:  2012 Bills of Interest