08 Nov Chapel Hill, Carrboro Allocate ARPA Funding to Assist Residents with Past-Due OWASA Bills
The Town Councils for Carrboro and Chapel Hill each recently voted to allocate funding to cover debt that Carrboro and Chapel Hill residents accrued on their OWASA bill while the Orange County State of Emergency was in place due to COVID-19. This funding will cover the remaining past-due balances of residents from each municipality for OWASA bills from March 12, 2020, through May 31, 2022.
The Carrboro Town Council voted on the funding allocation on October 11, 2022, and the Chapel Hill Town Council voted on November 2, 2022.
OWASA would like to express our gratitude to the Town Council and staff from both Carrboro and Chapel Hill for recognizing the impact that this funding will have for Carrboro and Chapel Hill residents who are OWASA customers.
The allocation was part of millions of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that Carrboro and Chapel Hill officials are dedicating toward various town efforts and community proposals.
OWASA implemented a moratorium on service disconnections due to non-payment on March 12, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the Orange County State of Emergency as guidance, OWASA resumed Standard Collection Practices on June 1, 2022, which was 30 days after the Orange County State of Emergency expired.
Throughout the pandemic, OWASA worked with local organizations and directly with customers who had bills that were past due to let them know where funding assistance was available, and OWASA continues connecting customers with various funding assistance. OWASA customers have received more than $300,000 in bill assistance since March 2020 from various programs.
OWASA has submitted a similar proposal to Orange County to cover past-due balances for OWASA customers residing in unincorporated Orange County.