Granite City officials are considering an agreement with Illinois American Water Co. to have the water supply cut off to residential and commercial property owners delinquent on sewer bill payments.

City Treasurer Gail Valle said Thursday the agreement would likely help the city collect some of the $973,000 in delinquent bills that have accumulated over several years.

"It sounds like a lot of money, but with the bills that come in it's not as much as it seems. More than half is from late fees," Valle said.

Valle said the city collected $1,435,000 in sewer fees during the last fiscal year, from April 31, 2008, to May 1, 2009.

At the May 19 City Council meeting, aldermen tabled a resolution that would have allowed the city to negotiate an agreement with Illinois American Water to cut the water supply of residents delinquent on their sewer bills.

The resolution was sent to the Finance and Waste Water Sewage committees for review. A time and date for the joint committee meeting has not been set.

The Finance Committee is chaired by Ward 2 Aldermen Virgil Kambarian and the Waste Water Sewage Committee by Ward 6 Alderman Bill Davis.

"The city wants to make it clear that we are not going after people who are a little late on their sewer bills. We are going after chronic sewer bill offenders," Kambarian said.

"The city has to do something," Davis said. "I think it's getting out of hand."

Davis added that the resolution would eventually be passed.

Ward 4 Alderman Jim Smith, like Kambarian and Davis, is for the resolution to allow Illinois American Water to cut off the water supply.

"There are too many people who owe, and that includes business owners," Smith said.

None of the aldermen would talk about the specifics of the resolution because it has not been ironed out.

According to Valle, Park Towne West Mobile Home Park in West Granite owes $24,000 in delinquent sewer bill fees and numerous residential property owners owe hundreds of dollars in late fees.

Officials with Parktown West Mobile Home Park could not be reached for comment Friday.

Valle said Park Towne is a residential site with a high delinquent sewer bill.

A commercial building with a high delinquent sewer bill is located at 2915 Edwardsville Road.

Valle said the building, which is vacant, has a delinquent sewer billing account of about $100,000. Part of the $100,000 is in late fees.

The city has several means to collect delinquent sewer bills: A collection agency, liens and lawsuits. Valle said that a lien is put on a property with a delinquent sewer bill of about $75, and the bill is turned over to a collection agency when it climbs to about $300.

If the bill is not paid, it eventually goes to the court as a lawsuit, Valle said.

Valle said 376 residents in the Granite City area are delinquent on sewer bill payments and have had their bills turned over to a collection agency.

"It's hard to collect some of the bills because some of the people are in nursing homes or they are disabled. It often depends on the courts," Valle said.

The city has placed liens on 684 residential properties with delinquent sewer bills and has lawsuits against 275 property owners delinquent on their bills, Valle said.

The liens come to about $770,000 and the lawsuits to roughly $306,000.

Granite City area residents pay $11.50 every other month for sewer bills.

Ninety cents goes to administration; $1.55 to capital improvements; $2.25 to sewer operations, and maintenance and replacement; $5.31 to sewer treatment; and $1.49 to debt services.

Several communities in Illinois have agreements with water companies to shut off the water supply due to delinquent sewer bills, including Belleville.

Peoria was the first community to approve a water shut-off policy to collect delinquent sewer bills, Valle said.