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Mahoning Twp. seeks funding help for sewer project
By MARY grzebieniak
HILLSVILLE, Pa.
Township Supervisor Vito Yeropoli urged residents to write to their state representatives and ask the lawmakers to obtain funding to finish the multimillion-dollar sanitary sewer project.
Mahoning Township, which has an 83 percent septic-failure rate and is under state mandate to construct sanitary sewers, still needs $6.8 million to finish the Hillsville-Edinburg Sewer project.
Supervisor Gary Pezzuolo said the township was forced to start the project so as not to lose funding already awarded. It is struggling, however, to obtain the rest of the money.
The township was turned down in the latest round of competitive funding grants but will keep applying for the funds, said Greg DelPrincipe of RAR Engineering, sewer project consultant.
At their Tuesday meeting, supervisors also heard from consultants Jim and Linda Farris, who answered questions about cost of sewer tap-ins, which are expected to begin by year’s end.
Linda Farris said financial help will be available from the federal Community Development Block Grant program depending on income level. Help also may be available both for front footage costs and for the connection from the line to the house.
She said, however, there is no guarantee of how much will be available because the funding is competitive. She said there will be a public hearing once final costs are known and the cost to residents can be calculated.
Supervisors agreed to start paying the Mahoning Township Volunteer Fire Department’s bills for fuel for trucks, and utilities for the Edinburg and Beard Road stations out of the fire tax account, which has a balance of about $70,000.
Until now, supervisors had paid only workers’ compensation costs and made fire-truck payments from the fund.
Fire Chief Poncho Exposito said the township needs to take over the payments because the department doesn’t have the manpower to continue the level of fundraising it has done in the past.
Trustees also declined an offer from Unison, the company which owns the cell-phone tower on land owned by the township. Unison, which pays $936 per month to lease the land, offered to buy it for $88,938. Supervisors said the sum was too low.