The utilities subcommittee comprised of members of the council has undertaken a study that is exploring other billing options.
by David Kilby, Special Writer
ALLENTOWN — As the borough continues to look for a fair sewer rate that covers the increasing expenses of the town’s aging sewer plant, consecutive Borough Council meetings have seen property owners complaining about rates, which have more than doubled for some.
Currently, residents and business owners are billed at a flat rate of $135 per quarter then billed according to how much water they actually use. The utilities subcommittee comprised of members of the council has undertaken a study that is exploring other billing options.
Units are charged for 80 percent of water usage, which is the standard rate of water that goes back into a sanitary sewer plant, according to professional engineering standards, Mayor Stuart Fierstein has said.
During the March 11 meeting, the mayor said the flat rate was steady from 2009 to 2013, when the borough passed a new ordinance that attempted to charge a tiered rate while charging commercial units more than residential units.
”We had commercial units that were using 50 times the amount of water and were charged at the same rate,” Mayor Fierstein explained.
When business owners complained about the disparity the officials tried to come up with a billing rate that was fair to all.
”We had people who were going to sue the town because they thought we were being unfair on businesses,” Mayor Fierstein said.
The current rate, established by ordinance Dec. 23, was deemed to be fair “in the eyes of the state, attorney and engineer,” the mayor said.
”No one on council knew how it was going to affect individuals,” he added.
To that end though 72 percent of businesses did see rates lower than those of last year, a large number of residential units saw a more than 100 percent increase in their bill.
”There’s a lot of things we’re looking at,” Mayor Fierstein said, adding that, among other problems with the sewer treatment plant, plastic bags and grease have been found in the drainage system.
”We’ve had several of these emergencies beyond the (Hurricane Irene and Sandy) storms,” the mayor added.
Kenneth Edwards, of Pearl Street, attended the meeting to express his grievances, saying he has lived in Allentown for 39 years and never had a problem paying his sewer bill.
”Everybody’s been paying the same sewer bill. I can understand (the bill) going up a little, (but) now I’m paying over $1,000 a year,” Mr. Edwards said.
The mayor said that there is “no foreseeable increase” in the sewer rate, but residents have conveyed that they would like a new ordinance on sewer rates written to lower the tax hike.
A leak detection of the plant performed in 2013 revealed that there was 4 percent sludge in the sewer plant, the mayor said.
Thomas Fritts, of Greenfield Drive, asked why the residents were not informed of the increase in advance.
”Forward thinking would be to notify people before things happen,” Mr. Fritts said.
Tim Hare, of Lakeview Drive, said an informal “curb poll” revealed that everyone he spoke to said their bill increased at least 100 percent.
Mr. Hare suggested making the bill a part of the property bill so residents can at least write it off as a deduction each year when they file their federal and state taxes.