Published: June 26, 2009 02:00 pm      

NEW ALBANY CITY WRAP: New round of sewer liens being prepared

SEJ and East Spring consider association merger

The New Albany Municipal Billing office will soon be sending out more pre-lien notices to delinquent sewer customers.

Billing Director Kelly Welsh said during a New Albany Sewer Board meeting on Thursday that the notices will be mailed by the end of July, with about $500,000 worth of payment to be demanded. The pre-liens are in effect for bills that have gone unpaid for more than 90 days.

“It’s tedious and time consuming, but we’ll get it done by the end of July,” Welsh said.

She added the $500,000 figure is only for Indiana American Water customers. Most of the bills are from this year, though some date back to 2008 before New Albany took back all utility billing.

That’s on top of the $500,000 in liens the department already filed with the Floyd County Treasurer’s office. If the unpaid bills aren’t accounted for, the customer will be charged the amount when they pay their property taxes to the treasurer.

The city will receive a check from the treasurer for payments collected, which could end up being around $1 million depending on how many of the latest pre-lien notices are paid by tax time.

“One million dollars could take care of one of our [infrastructure] projects,” said Ron Carroll, sewer board president.



Neighborhood groups consider merger

The East Spring and S. Ellen Jones neighborhood associations discussed joining forces to form one unified group during a meeting Tuesday.

If a decision is made to merge, the association could be called Midtown, though a name to better historically represent the areas could be chosen.

According to notes provided by SEJ President Ted Fulmore, the groups agreed they would have more leverage to lobby on issues if they combine.

The associations could attract more investment in their areas and be able to get more residents involved by combining, the groups decided.

As for drawbacks, residents listed the large number of home foreclosures in the SEJ neighborhood and the lack of current participation by people in the associations as potential cons.

There also was concern a merger would make the group too big.

Some association members countered that a unified group would be no worse off if it only included the same people volunteering for SEJ and East Spring.

Similar to groups in Louisville, the associations also discussed forming a coalition as opposed to merging.

The associations will vote separately on whether to merge during their July meetings — East Spring’s is scheduled for July 8 and SEJ’s July 21.