Greenville borough employees asked council Tuesday to guarantee that their paychecks won't bounce from now on.

Council has said employees' Nov. 15 paychecks bounced because of a delay in the money being made available by National City Bank, which has the payroll account.

In the past, borough Treasurer Tracy Vale took money from the general fund and deposited a check into the payroll account the Thursday before checks were issued, said Council President Bryan Langietti.

She did the same thing last month, except the money had to be transferred from Sky Bank to National City. The state issued a $660,000 emergency loan to keep the borough afloat and placed the money in Sky Bank. The borough received the loan through Act 47, the program for financially distressed communities.

Under National City's availability policy, the money was not in the account by the time paychecks were issued.

The following Monday, Mrs. Vale received a call from a National City official saying there would be a problem with the checks. She then told Langietti about the call, but, he said, they didn't know what might happen.

A day later, employees began reporting that their paychecks had bounced because of insufficient funds.

"The borough treasurer had used the same process she had used for years," said Borough Manager Kenneth S. Weaver.

Grace Stephens, an employee of the Bessemer System Federal Credit Union and wife of Greenville-West Salem Township patrolman Dennis Stephens, said borough officials should have been aware of National City's policy. "This is far-reaching," she said. "This goes beyond Greenville. This affects people's credit."

"We blew it," Langietti said. "In the future, the funds will be transferred earlier in the week and we are looking into making electronic transfers."

The borough paid a total of $130 in returned check fees charged to employees. Langietti said National City was not charging the borough for returned check fees.