More than 1,300 Sea Coast Disposal customers in Selma will have their garbage collection stopped next Wednesday due to nonpayment.

The figure represents about a third of the company’s paying customer base in the city

According to the Steven Hendrieth, the city of Selma’s waste accounts coordinator, 1,301 accounts will be suspended.

The company services 4,872 customers in Selma. Of those, 844 customers (senior citizens) meet payment exemption guidelines.

Hendrieth told the Selma City Council on Thursday that the delinquent accounts represent a $112,000 loss for Sea Coast.

The company’s president Matt Brigance and local manager Terry Hendricks spoke to the council about the cutoffs and new technology Sea Coast is implementing.

“We pick up the garbage every week and every one of these folks came and signed up and made an initial payment,” Brigance said.

The company has started using tablets along its route that will let drivers know which homes are behind on payments. Those carts will be picked up and service discontinued starting next Wednesday.

Councilman B.L. Tucker asked if some of the payment issues could be tied to poor service.

Brigance said the company logs every complaint and that Sea Coast gets about 40 inbound calls each week. Of those, Brigance said few are complaints and that most are related to billing questions.

“It’s a very small amount of inbound calls we receive that are service complaints,” Brigance said. “I think when a customer doesn’t pay their bill, and then they say, ‘Well you knocked my cart over six months ago’ — I don’t think that necessarily validates their reason for not paying.”

Hendricks said the company’s nonpayment rate in Lowndes County is about 17 or 18 percent. Brigance said he expects there will be some payments made due to the “shock factor.” The company accepts payment online, at their office on Highland Avenue or by mail at P.O. Box 365. Council members were given a list of everyone in their ward that is delinquent. City Councilman Cecil Williamson said council members should try to contact people in their wards about the cutoff.

“Hopefully, those people will go down and make a payment on what they owe,” Selma Mayor George Evans said. “They know who they are, and, hopefully, they will get caught up.”