Bellevue Council members disagree over which borough employee should settle disputes over garbage collection billing.

Council's finance committee has recommended adding a section to the borough's billing policy that would limit the amount of time a property owner has to obtain a refund if billed for more units than actually exist in a building. The matter arose after a property owner recently sought a refund for several years' worth of garbage collection payments because she had been billed for one unit more than she said existed in the building. The proposed policy would limit refunds to one year.

Council members discussing the policy at the July 29 pre-council meeting had no problem with the policy itself, but disagreed over who should verify the number of units in a building when a billing dispute arises, something director of administrative services Connie Flasher said occurs only about a dozen times a year.
Bellevue currently has an ordinance requiring landlords to report changes in tenancy to the borough's census enumerator. The borough's code enforcement office, however, handles occupancy permits that determine the number of units that can be rented in a building.

Council member Linda Woshner said that she would like to see the verification handled by the census enumerator because the enumerator's authority is limited. Landlords might be hesitant to allow inspection by the code enforcement officer because he has the power to cite them for unrelated matters observed during the occupancy inspection.

Council member Jerry Walter said that he wanted the matter handled by the code enforcement officer because the CEO could cite landlords for not listing the correct number of units. Bellevue's garbage ordinance does not make it illegal for property owners to pay for more units than they actually have, and the policy would not give the CEO authority to issue citations on that basis.

Flasher maintained that the matter was related more to the number of units in the building -- which is the province of code enforcement -- rather than the number of people living there -- which would concern the census enumerator.

A public hearing on the proposed policy will be held at 6:45 p.m. on Aug. 5 at Bayne Library.

Council members Mike Kutschbach, Mark Helbling and Lisa Blaney-Stewart were absent from the pre-council meeting.