An old woman from Massachusetts was threatened with a lien on her home over a debt of 1 cent from an overdue water, sewer and rubbish bill.

The 74-year-old woman, Eileen Wilbur, said she received a notice from the city of Attleborough notifying her that if she does not pay 1 penny, she will have to pay a $48 penalty plus a lien on her property. The bill must be paid until December 10.  

“My thought would have been right away to tear it up, but my daughter said, ‘Mom, this is real,’ ” Wilbur told the Boston Herald yesterday.

“When she convinced me that it was real, I got angry.”

Fortunately someone stepped in to help the Wilbur, a blind great-grandmother. Former Attleboro City Councillor Antonio Viveiros reportedly paid the woman’s bill, but he did it using a check of $0,01. Mr. Viveiros wanted to emphasize the irrationality of what he called an “idiotic” bureaucratic snafu.

“I just wanted to bring up the point of how arrogant City Hall can be for our neighbors,” Viveiros said. “They didn’t do the neighborly thing.”

On the other part, City Collector Debora Marcoccio argued that this unfortunate incident happened because the process involves a computer that automatically prints letters for outstanding accounts. She added that she received a fax from Wilbur’s daughter because her mother couldn’t call the city because a phone number wasn’t provided.

“If I had received a phone call, I would have been able to talk to the resident and hopefully resolve the issue,” Marcoccio said, “But I wasn’t given that opportunity.”

When asked about the situation, Mayor Kevin Dumas said that the whole thing was a bit exaggerated.