Penn Hills council's approval of a new collection agency for delinquent sewerage accounts could help the municipality lower and eventually eliminate a $30 service charge for sewage customers if all goes according to plan, said Penn Hills Deputy Mayor Sara Kuhn.

Council voted unanimously last night for a resolution approving Portnoff Law Associates Ltd. as collector of delinquent sewerage fees. Ms. Kuhn said she expected retaining Portnoff as the collector, as opposed to former collector Central Tax Bureau, will bring additional revenue.

Penn Hills already has seen results since it replaced Central Tax as its sewerage billing agent last July. Ms. Kuhn said the municipality receives collections from 90 to 95 percent of delinquent accounts now that Wilkinsburg Penn-Joint Water Authority and Oakmont Water Authority serve as its collector, compared to 71 percent of collections received when Central Tax served as collector. She said the increased collections and the possibility of federal assistance to reduce the municipality's debt could help officials reduce the sewerage fee by half at the end of this year and potentially cut the fee altogether next year.

Mayor Anthony DeLuca encouraged residents to take part in a letter writing campaign to Congress and President Obama to help the municipality gain assistance to pay off its debt. Penn Hills raised its sewerage rates and imposed a $30 per quarter service charge in December, 2007, in order to keep up payments on a $60 million bond issue used to make sewage system repairs required by the Environmental Protection Agency. But in spite of the fact that the EPA consent decree expired Jan. 20, half of the municipality's sewerage fund, approximately $4 million per year, goes toward paying off the bond, said Mr. DeLuca. He said he hopes to have the letter composed by the end of the week for residents to sign and send out.

"We have some senior citizens paying around $340 per quarter -- that's a lot of money," he said. "It's getting hard for people to be able to flush the toilet and use the shower."

In other actions, council approved resolutions allowing Fayette Forest Products Inc. harvest timber in Restland Memorial Park along Lincoln Road; authorizing the filing of a $50,000 grant application from the Allegheny County Economic Development Community Infrastructure and Tourism Board to improve the municipal building, and granting Maiello, Brungo and Maiello LLP the role as delinquent tax collector for 2008 real estate taxes.

Council authorized lease agreements with the Penn Hills Girls Softball Association, Penn Hills Baseball Association and the Penn Hills Youth Football Association to use concession stands at Turner-Friendship Park, approved a $100,000 budget to purchase library books, awarded an $85,690 contract to Lime Hollow Sewer and Manhole Rehabilitation Project for water pollution control and a $252,000 contract to BFI Waste Services for sludge removal. Council also approved a three-year agreement with Fedele Insurance Services Inc. for services and authorized a natural gas transportation agreement with People's Natural Gas Co.