The State College Water Authority is asking residents to pay their water bills on time and wants to increase the penalty rate for those who don't , Executive Director Max Gill told the State College Borough Council earlier this month. Higher fees are necessary because of habitual offenders and because the cost of filing late bills has increased, he said.

The current fine is not incentive enough for people to pay their bills, Gill said. A potential alternative could be mandatory down payments for water service, he said.

The council already voted against increasing the penalty for unpaid bills. The members do not believe that this would be the most effective way to resolve the problem.

Council member James Meyer was one of these members. All customers would be affected, not just the repeat offenders, Meyer said. The penalty rate should increase each time a customer pays a bill late, he said.

"A 2.5 percent increase is not going to solve the problem. I recommend the board come up with new penalties for repeat offenders," Meyer said.

Council member Elizabeth Goreham also said the penalty should increase with the amount of notices a customer gets. The more time that passes, the higher it should be for the delinquent customer, Goreham said.

Council members Tom Daubert and Catherine Dauler suggest an entirely different solution. The amount of time that the water company gives customers should be increased from 20 days to 30 days, they said.

"Thirty days is what I feel the payment time should be, as it is for most other bills," Dauler said.

Daubert agreed. "I don't see why (the water authority) can't give people 30 days -- 20 days simply isn't enough." After 34 days, a "friendly reminder" is sent out to customers whom have unpaid bills, Gill said.

If the bill remains unpaid, the customers will have a notice hung on their door announcing that their water service will be terminated in one week, Gill said. After this, if the bill is still not paid, a 24-hour notice to water termination is given, he said.

If the customer who does not pay the bill is renting his or her living space, the water authority also will speak to the landlord to try to get them involved in the process, Gill said.

When there are no options left for the water authority, and the bill is still not paid, then water service is eliminated, Gill said.