A healthy discussion is taking place in Zelienople over the issue of delinquent electric and water bills, and the borough council, commendably, is not being hasty in implementing a plan that could have posed serious problems for landlords.

The special meeting held Monday to obtain landlords’ input on a proposed ordinance that would have made them co-signers on renters’ electric and water accounts brought discussion on a number of alternatives that might better discourage delinquencies — or at least curb the losses that the borough and landlords might experience.

One of the ideas discussed that seems more workable than the ordinance proposal is upping tenants’ security deposits for the accounts in question. The security deposits currently required don’t have enough weight to discourage tenants from skipping out on paying their late bills.

One of the borough’s landlords said Monday that the ordinance that the council was considering could lead to more delinquencies because renters would know landlords would have to pay their bills.

That is a good point, like the proposal to increase security deposits to a level similar to what other communities charge.

Nearby Cranberry Township charges a $200 deposit for water service. Zelienople’s current water deposit is $10, as is the deposit for electric service.

Those deposit amounts are much too low.

Still, Zelienople doesn’t have a big problem with people moving without paying their bills in full. It has been estimated that over the past 10 years, the borough has lost $185,000 — not a major loss for a community operating on a $6 million or $7 million annual budget.

However, that lost revenue could have been put to positive use, if the money had been collected.

Zelienople officials are handling the issue in the right way — putting forth a proposal, gathering input and evaluating alternatives.

When the issue finally is decided, it’s more likely that whatever updated rules are put in place will be more in the community’s best interests than a plan hastily enacted without full consideration of the ramifications.

CheerWhile some county governments are experiencing rough times regarding their pension funds, Butler County commendably is not one of them.The latest report shows this county’s fund at $142 million — $4 million higher than in August — causing county Controller Jack McMillin to proclaim the local fund as being in good shape.“We’re certainly in the top tier of public pension funds at our level,” McMillin said.For county taxpayers, that’s good news, because taxpayers ultimately are responsible for the health of such funds.But some county residents familiar with the necessity of maintaining a healthy fund might have been concerned in the spring when the fund, which is mostly in the form of investments, dropped to $130 million in May before starting to rebound.According to McMillin, the pension plan is funded at close to 78 percent, with 80 percent considered the ideal number.McMillin noted that the county makes annual contributions into the fund to keep it healthy. However, many counties experiencing serious financial problems aren’t able to keep up with their pension plan funding like this county has been doing.Regardless of what concerns Butler County residents might have about the way their county government is operating, their concerns need not be focused on pension funding.That aspect of county operations appears to be well under control.

Jeer Motorists using Butler’s tier parking garage during the past week had good cause to wonder whether a work stoppage was under way in the city.A trash can was overflowing at the garage’s entrance Thursday morning to the point where trash already was spilling out onto the concrete around it. Earlier in the week, it was clear that the receptacle was being neglected.But that wasn’t the only receptacle displaying an unsightly mess. The one next to the farmers’ market was nearly as deplorable for several days.Although both receptacles were emptied Thursday morning, that doesn’t explain why the receptacles projected the message that no one cares what people think of Butler.The city official in charge of ensuring that such work is done needs to be more vigilant about what is and is not being accomplished in terms of keeping the city looking clean and well kept.Ensuring that the city projects cleanliness and pride is a job that never has a vacation.