Sewer rates to go up in Waynesboro

September 19, 2012|By JENNIFER FITCH | waynesboro@herald-mail.com

WAYNESBORO, Pa. — Borough of Waynesboro residents are facing a 10 percent sewer rate increase effective Oct. 1.

“We’ve had three rate increases in the past three years ... to cover the debt service and increased operational costs,” said Leiter Pryor, utilities director.

Construction on a multi-million-dollar sewer plant upgrade is under way that will change the way nitrogen and phosphorus are removed from wastewater. Those upgrades are designed to be in line with Chesapeake Bay nutrient reduction requirements.

Waynesboro Borough Manager Lloyd Hamberger said the municipalities may not always agree with Chesapeake Bay requirements, but they have no choice in making the changes for the Environmental Protection Agency.

“EPA says ‘do it,’ so you do it,” Hamberger said.

Waynesboro’s water and sewer lines are managed by the Waynesboro Borough Authority, which enacted 15 percent rate increases in both 2010 and 2011.

The average sewer customer is allotted 15,000 gallons each quarter, Pryor said.

That customer’s quarterly rate will increase from $85.20 to $93.72 with the latest rate increase, he said.
Kinsley Construction Co. of York, Pa., will be doing sewer plant construction through October 2013, according to Pryor.

The Waynesboro Borough Authority approved the rate increase Tuesday.

That decision went before the Waynesboro Borough Council on Wednesday for concurrence. The council voted unanimously to affirm the rate hike.

The borough, which has 5,500 customers, last made plant upgrades in 1989.

Similar plant upgrade projects are in various stages in Franklin County, Pa.

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