Bucks
water, sewer bills going up
By Jenna Portnoy, Intelligencer, April 30, 2008
It’s not enough that gas prices are sky high and the
housing market is in a slump.
This summer, residents and municipalities served by Buck County’s public water and sewer system will see bigger bills than
usual.
Customers can thank increases imposed by the Bucks County
Water and Sewer Authority’s largest provider, the city of Philadelphia, authority spokesman Pat Cleary said Tuesday.
“It’s frustrating to say the least,” he
said. “We’re trying to lessen the impact as much as we can.”
Philadelphia passed on an increase of nearly 50 percent over four years to provide
water and an increase of 45 percent over four years for sewer services, Cleary said.
Bucks residents will shoulder the burden for one year only
because of the authority’s efforts to reduce costs.
The authority laid off one employee at the management level
Tuesday and plans to eliminate more positions through attrition over the next four years, Cleary said. There are also plans
to restructure debt, he said.
Authority board members approved the increases Monday evening
with Chairman Pete Stainthorpe abstaining because he is a supervisor in Lower Makefield,
which will see some increases.
The following increases will go into effect July 1:
Households connected to the county’s public sewer
system will incur a 12.2 percent increase, which works out to an additional $57.60 per year for a flat annual rate of $537.60.
(Metered customers’ price will fluctuate, depending on usage.)
This includes customers in Bensalem, Buckingham, Doylestown,
Doylestown Township,
Langhorne, Middletown, New Hope,
Plumstead, Richland, Richlandtown, Solebury and Upper Dublin.
Households connected to the county’s public water
sewer system will incur a 9.3 percent increase. The average customer will pay $20.88 more for the year, which works out to
an annual bill of $246.40.
This includes customers in Langhorne, Langhorne Manor, Lower Southampton, Middletown, New Hope,
Penndel and Solebury.
Wholesale municipal sewer customers will incur a 24.2 percent
increase, which means the rate per 1,000 gallons will increase from $2.62 to $3.25.
This includes municipalities or municipal authorities in
Bristol Township,
Lower Southampton, Newtown,
Newtown Township,
Falls, Penndel, Hulmeville, Lower Makefield, Langhorne and Northampton.
Wholesale municipal water customers will incur a 24.8 percent
increase, which means the rate per 1,000 gallons will increase from $2.15 to $2.68.
This includes municipalities or municipal authorities in
Newtown, Northampton, Upper Southampton and Bensalem.
Wholesale customers’ bills will likely reflect the
increases as well as any mark up added by their municipality or municipal authority for maintaining the system.
“For wholesale customers, we provide the service and
they in turn bill customers and maintain lines of those customers,” Cleary explained.
Including these increases, the city has raised the authority’s
water rates a total of 127 percent and sewer rates a total of 108 percent since 2001, Cleary said. Authority board members
are sending a letter of objection to the city.
“We’re doing what we can by restructuring debt
and trying to cut some line items internally,” Cleary said. “How Philadelphia came up with these numbers is what we’re trying to figure out.”
City customers will see an increase of about 27 percent
over four years, according to a statement from the Philadelphia Water Department. Increases are needed to fund capital projects,
security
Article's URL:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-04302008-1526932.html
