Iron Gate, VA (March 26, 2026)— During tonight's Iron Gate Town Council Meeting, Mayor Kawahna Persinger addressed with a trending new problem in the town. As it turns out, several residents have moved away from Iron Gate and left behind delinquent utility bills, putting additional financial strain on the town. As such, the topic was among the focal points of Persinger's Mayor Report.
The town's budget has been strained by the unpaid bills, prompting the mayor to address council so they could discuss potential solutions that might limit the impact on the community's finances.
"This is becoming a little bit of an issue," Mayor Persinger stated Thursday evening, "because prices are going up, it costs more for groceries, costs more for gasoline, and other localities, or other vendors, if you don't pay your electric bill, they're gonna turn your lights off. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it, and I think the town has been quite lenient in several instances, but council is going to either have to either number one, not do anything and leave it as it is, with us taking the hit if the renter moves out because we cannot hold the landlord responsible."
"Number two, we can go and look at the ordinances and consult with our attorney, and see if we want to change the ordinance where it would make whoever the, whoever's name is on the tax ticket would be responsible for paying that bill, and then that individual, the homeowner, it would be their responsibility to go after the individual that didn't pay," Persinger said.
Another option mentioned was to withhold the utility bill deposit, as opposed to refunding it after a year. However, nothing has been decided at this point, though it is expected to be discussed at upcoming work session scheduled for April 20th at 7:00 p.m. The town council meeting was set for April 30 at 7:00 p.m.
The Journal will soon have the full mayor's report available on our Facebook page. |  | (L to R) Jimmy Jeffries and Richard Unroe are two of the town's faithful attendees at scheduled Iron Gate Town Council meetings.
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