New sewage bills may include fee

Residents of Pleasant Hills will see their sewage bills more often in the new year, and they may start pitching in for improvements to the borough's sewerage system.

Previously, borough residents were billed for their sewerage use annually based on their water consumption in the past year.

Deborah Englert, the borough's manager and secretary, said a new computer billing system was recently bought after the employee who maintained the old system retired and moved to Florida. 'We can't have a system with no maintenance,' she said.

Under the new system, residents will be billed quarterly - four times a year - for their actual sewerage usage. The first bill for January, February and March will be due in April.

'This is a much more fair system, especially for new residents,' Englert said. 'You're paying for what you actually use, not the past usage.'

In 2000, residents paid a flat $225 sewage bill for up to 50,000 gallons of water used and $3 for each 1,000 gallons over that, Englert said. The new sewage rate will not be announced until the Jan. 15 borough council meeting.

However, a $20 surcharge may be added to each of the quarterly bills to help pay off $3.5 million in low-interest loans the borough has received through the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority to rehabilitate the sewerage system.

The surcharge would total $80 per home per year, and is to be included in the annual sewer and solid waste ordinance that council is scheduled to approve on Jan. 15. Englert could not say how long residents would have to pay the surcharge.

The investment authority in March approved a $2.42 million loan for the borough to replace 11 miles of sewage lines in the East Bruceton watershed, said Paul Marchetti, a spokesman for the authority, also known as PennVEST.

It is repayable over 20 years, with a 3.033 percent interest rate in the first five years and 3.944 in the remaining 15 years, Marchetti said. Two other loans totaling about $1 million for sewerage and storm water work had been awarded in 1999.

The work was ordered by the state Department of Environmental Protection. Storm water was infiltrating the borough's sewerage lines, causing overflows into homes and Lewis Run.

Englert said current work under way on the system is scheduled to be finished by year's end. Property restoration will begin in the spring. It is not yet known if more work will be required.

The Pleasant Hills Authority serves 8,094 users in most of Pleasant Hills and portions of Whitehall, Baldwin and South Park. Its budget for 2001 totals $1.28 million, according to Roger Knefelkamp, authority secretary.

The annual garbage fee, included in the first quarter bill, is unchanged at $74, Englert said.

Brian C. Rittmeyer can be reached at brittmeyer@tribweb.com or at (412) 306-4540.