Lansford Borough is considering changing how it bills residents for garbage collection and possibly sewer transmission to reduce its mailing costs.

Borough Treasurer Maria Ahner said that she would like to move to semiannual bills, rather than quarterly billing, but still give residents options to pay monthly, quarterly, semiannually or annually.

The borough spends more than $11,000 a year on quarterly mailing costs alone, she told the borough’s municipal administration committee Thursday night.

Sending out bills semiannually would save the borough $5,544 a year, plus another $2,000 to $3,500 in administrative savings by reducing staff time and processing, according to information presented.

Paper bills would go out in January and June, but people could choose how to pay, either all at once or spread the payments out over the year to ease the burden, Ahner said.

“It’s kind of like a payment plan for people to pay their bills, because some people are on fixed incomes,” she said.

Councilwoman Michele Bartek asked if the borough would be billing monthly, if residents wanted to pay monthly.

“They will get a bill only twice a year,” Ahner said. “They can pay it monthly, quarterly, semiannual or annually. So, it’s up to them to be responsible for their own bill.”

Ahner also pointed out that the borough is able to process credit card payments now, and many people are now paying their bills online, she said.

Residents can also call the borough office, if they need to check on a bill, and the borough is able to send phone messages or email reminders to people about bills, Ahner explained.

Ahner also noted that now that they’re doing payment plans for people who have been behind on bills, that residents are paying the bills and catching up, she said.

Resident Ronald Peck asked if there was a discount for paying annually, and that was something that the borough could look into, she said.

Resident Bob Silver asked about the sewage transmission fee, which is billed annually, and comes with penalties if not paid within a set time.

Ahner stressed that she is only looking at sanitation bills right now, because the sewage transmission has already gone out for this year. She wanted to start with garbage and then look at billing garbage and sewer together for next year, she said.

Silver also asked about fees for the borough now that it takes credit card payments, and Ahner explained that the borough pays a monthly fee of about $34, but there are no annual fees for credit card processing.