FARRELL, PA. Plan would raise sewer rates

The increase will yield an additional $78,000 annually.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
FARRELL, Pa. -- Residents, businesses and industry in the city will see their sewer rates rise next year under a plan presented to city council.
The average residential rate will go up about $24 a year, from $169 to about $193 beginning in March.
Industrial subscribers may see a slightly larger percentage increase based on a change in the fee formula, said Dan Goncz of Gannett Fleming Inc. of Pittsburgh, the city's sewer consultant.
Parts of fee
He said the sewer fee is divided into two segments, one to pay for debt service and administrative costs and another to cover operating costs.
Everyone now pays a flat bimonthly fee of $13.63 per equivalent dwelling unit (EDU) to cover the former. That will go to $16.91, Goncz said.
One EDU is equal to 1,086 cubic feet of water usage bimonthly.
The second segment is paid based on actual water use. Everyone now pays $1.34 per 100 cubic feet (about 750 gallons) of water used, and that will increase to $1.40 per 100 cubic feet, he said.
City council held a public hearing on the proposed increase Monday, but no one showed up to complain.
Goncz said all individual residences and most businesses in town will continue to pay the bimonthly single EDU assessment, but the rate policy will change for industrial customers. They now pay a single EDU bimonthly assessment plus a fee of about $2 per employee on top of that.
The employee assessment will be dropped under the rate change, Goncz said, explaining that each industry will get its own EDU assessment based on the number of employees it has.
Four employees use the equivalent of one EDU bimonthly, so a company with 100 employees could expect to pay for 25 EDUs.
The net change won't be that great, however, because the individual employee assessment will be dropped, Goncz said.
Net proceeds
The rate increase will generate about $78,000 annually in additional income needed to meet the cost of improvements and the rising cost of operating the city's sewage treatment plant.
The sewer fund has its own budget separate from the city's general fund. The 2003 sewer-fund budget has been proposed at $734,108.
City council is expected to approve the rate increase in January.
In related business, council held a special meeting to pass the first of two required readings of both the sewer-fund budget and the proposed $2,085,173 general-fund budget, which won't require any tax increases.
Property taxes will remain at 22.67 mills. City residents pay between $12 and $14 per mill.
A final vote on the budget is set for Dec. 23.