BUTLER TWP — The Butler Area Sewer Authority board of directors has assigned accounts payable to a third-party company in preparation for the authority’s anticipated sale to Pennsylvania American Water.

The final bills sent by BASA will be processed at the Butler Township Municipal Building, which is where the authority’s offices will be located once the water company closes on the sale. The BASA board voted Tuesday, Oct. 10, to transfer accounts payable to the Sharpsville-based company Sharp Collections, effective about six weeks after the closing of the sale.

BASA solicitor Mike Hnath said drive-through or in-person payment options will not be available following the sale, but online payment options will remain available. Customers may later be notified by the water company on how billing will proceed after the sale.

“The game plan is we’ll have our final quarterly billing; whether it is prorated or not is yet to be seen because we don’t have a closing date,” Hnath said. “The last billing is going out, they’ll be the same. Checks are going to go to a different address, they are going to go to the township building because we will be out of here as of the effective date of the sale.”

Hnath said officials of Butler, Butler Township and BASA interviewed two companies for the role, and chose Sharp Collections because its owner has previous experience working with utility companies and shut off notices.

Hnath said the contract is contingent on the sale of BASA to Pennsylvania American Water being approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

“Once that cycle goes through, they’ll take over all delinquent accounts,” Hnath said of the final BASA billing cycle. “Once that winds down, we’ll have everything turned over to Sharp.”

The sale of the authority’s assets to Pennsylvania American is pending approval from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, at a price of $231.5 million. Butler and Butler Township will split the proceeds from the sale, following payments of debts and other costs.

The BASA board also passed several change orders relating to an improvement project on Fairlane Drive.

Duane McKee, executive director of BASA, said work on the project began about a year ago, and construction just concluded. The change orders totaled about $29,000, and are related to sewage improvement work in the area.

“It has been a couple years; they are just now finishing up,” McKee said. “It was two manholes, 100 feet of main line.”