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City man uses toilet-paper check to try to settle water-bill dispute

By John HillPress & Sun-Bulletin

BINGHAMTON -- A Binghamton man was escorted out of the county office building Wednesday after he tried to pay his water bill with a check -- neatly written on three squares of floral print, two-ply toilet paper.

North Side resident Ron Borgna has been wrangling with the City of Binghamton for 17 months over an outstanding water bill. That, plus a recently proposed 42 percent hike in city water rates, led Borgna to write a check for $2,509.66 on toilet paper to demonstrate his disgust with the water department.

The disagreement began with a $422.90 water bill Borgna received in September 2006. The amount was about four times Borgna's normal bill.

Borgna's water meter and plumbing were tested, but no problem could be discovered. The meter was over-registering by 1 percent, but city regulations allow a water meter to register between 98.5 and 101.5 percent of actual water usage.

City officials said that because his meter was within the legal limits, Borgna would have to pay the bill.

Borgna, who plans to appeal a judgment against him earlier this month in small claims court, said he decided to pay the bill, which now includes subsequent bills and late fees, to avoid property tax problems. After a year, outstanding city water bills are transferred to a homeowner's property tax bill, which is collected by Broome County.

So Borgna brought the toilet-paper check, along with a bank statement proving he had the money in his account, to the county Office of Real Property Tax Services Wednesday afternoon to pay the bill.

After Real Property Tax Services Director Kevin P. Keough refused to accept the homemade check, he took Borgna to the county legal department. There, Broome County attorney Robert Behnke also said the county would not accept the check.

An argument that ensued in the sixth-floor county law office grew testy but involved no physical confrontation. It ended with Borgna being peacefully escorted out of the building by a Broome Security officer.

Bill Ullmann, an attorney with the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City, said the IRS has in the past accepted a check written on a T-shirt as payment for a tax bill. But, because toilet paper is easily destroyed, it may have been difficult to clear the check.

"I can understand why someone would be hesitant to accept a check written on toilet paper," Ullmann said.

Borgna said he may try to pay the $2,509.66 -- for the original bill, late fees and subsequent water and sewer bills -- with change.

"I don't know where I'm going to get $2,000 in nickels and dimes," Borgna said.