Transit authority owes nearly $170,000 for unpaid gas bill
The Butler Transit Authority will pay Peoples Gas a settlement of just under $170,000 after inadvertently underpaying for heating fuel over a seven-year period.
The amount owed for the underpayment came to around $205,000, which Rebecca Black, solicitor for the transit authority, said was because of a billing error on Peoples’ part. Both sides agreed on a settlement of $168,282, which is a 35% discount on what is owed.
The transit authority board of directors accepted the settlement amount at a meeting Tuesday evening, July 18.
“Seven years total, we were only paying one-tenth of what we were actually using, but they can only go back four years because of that (Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission) statute,” Black said.
Butler Transit Authority will pay a majority of the settlement, but ANR Transportation, which shares office space with the authority, will pay a percentage that will be determined based on the amount of space the company uses.
Also at the meeting, the authority’s directors voted to pay Blue Archer about $1,300 to audit and update its website to make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Black said there are “a ton of lawsuits” relating to ADA-compliant websites, and the transit authority could be cited as well for not having a compliant website.
John Paul, authority’s executive director, said Blue Archer will audit the website and correct it to be ADA-compliant — although the authority’s board and administrators are unsure of what will be changed or may be in noncompliance.
“We have been told that this is one of the things they are going to look at when Federal Transit Administration probably comes out next year for an annual review,” Paul said. “This company specifically knows how to correct any deficiencies in our website.”
The board also voted to update its bicycle policy, adding electric bikes to the list of bicycle types not allowed to be transported by transit authority buses. Black said the authority has long had language regarding other types of bicycles, such as those powered by gas, and this update will treat electric bikes the same as other prohibited bicycles.
“It really just limits bicycles to man-powered, two wheels,” Black said. “One additional prohibition just indicating that bicycles cannot be brought inside the bus and that they have to be stored on bike racks only.”
