By Billy Davis

Crenshaw aldermen voted Thursday to set a firm deadline for water bill payments, thus doing away with an ad hoc policy that allows residents to pay their bills days and even weeks past deadline.

Town Clerk Renee Ward, who oversees the payments, requested the new policy.

“It’s mostly the same people all the time,” she told aldermen and Mayor Oscar Barlow. 

The current bill deadline is the 21st of each month, and Ward recommended moving the deadline to the 25th. The deadline would fall at 5 p.m. on that day, she also said.

Aldermen voted 5-0 to adopt the new payment policy.

Crenshaw’s cash-strapped town government depends heavily on its water bill payments to help keep its finances in the black.

The town’s financial consultant, Lygunnah Bean, has advised town leaders that controlling the water bill revenue is crucial.

After the meeting, Ward said she plans to send customers a notice about the new firm deadline.

The Town of Crenshaw charges a $50 reconnect fee for water usage.

In other town business:

•Aldermen voted to forego a tax increase and leave the town’s millage rate untouched.

The mayor and aldermen are days away from adopting a budget for the new fiscal year, which begins October 1.

They recessed Thursday night to return a week later, on September 10 at 6 p.m., to finalize their budget.

•Mayor Barlow announced that Dollar General has committed to building a store in Crenshaw. The property is located just outside the city limits.

•Barlow also asked town aldermen to pass a new ordinance that would prohibit the parking of large trucks along Board Street. But the board failed to enact the ordinance with a 2-3 vote.

Barlow said the suggested ordinance follows citizens’ complaints he heard during the mayoral race.

Aldermen Alberta Bradley and David Whitsell voted for the ordinance. Voting it down were Patricia Dodson and new aldermen Ronnie Perry and Gregg Reed.