by Peter Geier, Staff Writer
ALLENTOWN — The Borough Council has approved $20 quarterly increases to local resident and business water and sewer rates that together will increase the annual cost for these services by $160.
The new water rate will take effect April 1; the new sewer rate increase is effective May 1.
Mayor Stuart Fierstein explained to members of the public attending the March 10 council meeting that rising costs of maintaining aging and increasingly inefficient plants to provide water and sewer service made the increases necessary.
The Township Council agrees the plants should continue to pay for themselves without making the township dip into its reserves. The rate increases could be reduced in the future when the plants are upgraded and run more efficiently and cost-effectively, the mayor said.
”We are not in the business of making money out of utilities if we can cover the costs. We will try to credit back any increase in efficiency we realize,” he said.
The new ordinances will raise the water rate for use of up to 500 cubic feet from $40 to $60 per quarter, which means $80 more per year. The excess usage charge — water use exceeding 500 cubic feet per quarter — will continue to be billed at the rate of 6.7 cents per cubic foot.
The rate increase will cover system upgrades and service on the $1.3 million debt bonded in 2008 for those upgrades, which Allentown is scheduled to begin repaying this year, the mayor said.
Annual sewer rates also will rise $80 per year, from $580 to $660, or from $145 to $165 per quarter. The last time Allentown residents’ sewer bills went up was six years ago when they increased from $135 to $145 per quarter.
The sewer rate rise reflects the declining efficiency of a 20-year-old sewage treatment plant in need of an upgrade, accounting for costs that have risen from $255,000 in 2006 to a projected $476,000 in 2009, the mayor said.
In other business at the March 10 meeting, the council approved a new annual contract for trash and recycling collection.
The one-year pact with Waste Management Inc., of Houston, will cost $193,942, or roughly $16,000 per month for weekly door-to-door trash and recycling pickup, said Mayor Fierstein.
The only other bidder, Suburban Disposal Inc., of Fairfield, proposed an annual contract for $231,773, the mayor said.
In the prior 12 months, trash collection cost Allentown $179,971, according to Borough Clerk Julie Martin.
Trash collection costs each Allentown homeowner about $250 to $260 per month and represents about one-tenth of the township’s total budget, Mr. Fierstein said at the meeting.
