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<p>The look of Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority bills for the stormwater fee and wastewater treatment will change at the start of 2020, the authority announced Wednesday.</p><p>Replacing postcard-size bills called &#8220;tear cards&#8221; that some had criticized as too vague, the new tri-fold redesigned ones will provide more space for billing details that make them easier to read and understand, a release said.</p><p>The bill will be inside an envelope to ensure customer privacy and include a return envelope and remittance stub for customer convenience, it said.</p><p>&#8220;WVSA remains committed to reviewing and enhancing the manner in which we serve our customers and providing them with useful information,&#8221; authority Executive Director James Tomaine said in the release. &#8220;We believe these new features will be a benefit to all customers.&#8221;</p><p>Each quarterly bill also will include a newsletter called &#8220;Streamline&#8221; containing updates on authority projects and events to help meet a public education and outreach requirement in the federal mandate that prompted the stormwater fee, it said.</p><p>Based on nonabsorbent impervious area, the fee applies to 31 municipalities that signed up for the authority&#8217;s regional stormwater compliance program. In addition to stream bank restoration and other projects, the authority is sweeping streets, cleaning catch basins and performing mapping and other work required under the mandate.</p><p>Sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus in the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay must be reduced over the next five years under the mandate, the authority said.</p><p>Officials in the impacted municipalities determined it would be more cost-efficient to participate in the authority&#8217;s regional plan instead of funding compliance individually through municipal real estate taxes. Municipalities face fines if they don&#8217;t meet the federal requirements.</p><p>Advance notices about the authority bill format change were mailed to customers Wednesday.</p><p>The authority has used tear cards for its sanitary treatment bills since 1969 and kept that format for the stormwater fees.</p><p>&#8220;Assuming additional responsibilities for stormwater management, and in response to public feedback, the authority promptly recognized the need to update its billing format,&#8221; the release said.</p><p>In total, the authority has collected $8.4 million in fee payments from 70,212 parcels so far this year, or 92.3% of the 76,034 billed, according to the latest Dec. 16 report. The amount still owed is $1.8 million, the report says.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority headquarters in Hanover Township </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_TTL011219WVSA2-1-.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority headquarters in Hanover Township </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority bills redesigned