NATCHEZ — For some, one of the hassles of bills is remembering to make the payment.

One customer has neglected keeping up with his bill to the point that it’s in excess of $3,000, Sanitation Department Head Sue Clark said.

And that customer isn’t the only one. Maybe it’s intentional, but maybe they’ve just forgotten to put a check in the mail a few times.

Adams County Administrator Joe Murray said Monday, however, that the sanitation department now has the ability to draft the $13 monthly sanitation fee directly from residents’ bank accounts if they authorize it.

Clark said the automatic draft is a service that customers have requested for some time.

“We are always getting calls and people come asking, ‘Why don’t y’all do bank drafts,’” she said.

To sign up for the debit system, customers can pick up a form when they go to pay their bill this month, or they can contact the sanitation department at 601-445-7903 to have a form sent to them.

Murray said mailing a form to every residence was cost prohibitive, but forms would be mailed to those who asked for them.

The form are standard debit authorization forms, asking for the customer’s name, address and banking institution, and requires a bank account number and routing number. Customers must also attach a voided check to the form.

Once it is set up, the monthly debit will continue until the customer contacts the sanitation department and asks that it be discontinued.

Those with a backlog of sanitation payments should be forewarned — the authorization form allows the sanitation department to debit not only that month’s pay, but any other months that are owed.

“If they decide to do this, if they owe any back charges, it is going to take it out of their checking account,” Clark said.

Murray said that as long as the sanitation department has the form and a voided check by the end of this month, the first debit will go through on May 15.

The charge will then be drafted on the 15th of every month.

Debits that bounce will have a $40 fee attached to them, and the customer will have to make the payment in person. The account from which the debit was rejected will not be tried again that month.

Those who still wish to pay their sanitation bill on a yearly basis may still do so, Murray said.