Owners, landlords say increases place unfair burden
by David Kilby, Special Writer
ALLENTOWN — The new increased sewer bill has arrived for Allentown business owners, and they don’t think the reasons given by borough officials for the 100 percent tax hike hold water.
Allentown Borough Hall was packed once again Tuesday night with about half of the residents present there to protest the ordinance they said puts an unfair burden through increased the sewer rates for commercial and apartment units.
The ordinance ordaining the increase, passed in May, states that the annual sewer rate for each commercial unit, which has a single connection with the system, shall be $1,320 per year, twice as much as last year. This includes the annual usage of 30,000 cubic feet of water, based on the previous year’s annual usage, the ordinance reads.
Commercial units, including rental apartments, will be charged an additional $2,640 if they use over 30,000 cubic feet, $3,960 if they use over 60,000 cubic feet and $5,280 if they use over 90,000 cubic feet.
At the meeting, Kelly Owens of South Main Street said the new sewer bill does not create any incentive to conserve water.
”Excuse me if I’m wrong about this, but there was an overage we had to pay and you had to come up with a way to pay for it,” Ms. Owens said. “So this ordinance did that. Instead of everyone being charged equally for their usage, you decided to discriminatorily charge only the commercial businesses.”
Mayor Stuart Fierstein said that is not true.
”Eighty percent of water use becomes sewer,” Mayor Fierstein replied. “Everyone in this town has paid a flat rate, even people who don’t use 500 cubic feet of water in their homes. They were paying the same flat sewer rate as businesses using 10, 20, 50 or 100 times more water. This is a process of getting to billing per water usage.”
He also said the new billing rate is based on an analysis of average water use from the previous year, saying to the business owners “you’re not paying for everyone else’s water bill.”
The mayor further noted that the ordinance was approved by the Department of Community Affairs.
”The commercial businesses have been offset by residents for the 50 years the sewer plant has existed,” he added.
Despite this, Ms. Owen’s husband Wil Borkowski of South Main Street and landlord for an apartment building and three businesses in Allentown, said the ordinance is still discriminatory.
”Not everyone in the ordinance has to pay double,” Mr. Borkowksi said, adding that the need for the increase has only arisen due to repairs needed on the sewer plant that will cost $2.5 million.
Allen Wenc, of North Main Street and owner of Jul’s Realty, said he never had a reason to come to council meetings, but came this time because he thinks the sewer bill increase is “a little absurd.”
He said the downtown businesses are the backbone of the Allentown community, adding that he thinks the increase should be shared through the whole town.
”We’re putting the burden on the commercial,” he said, then he showed how his sewer bill increased this quarter from $294 to $422.25.
”How can I pass this along to my tenants?” he asked. “I have class A tenants because it keeps high quality residents in town. People come here with legitimate complaints.”
The mayor told him to call Borough Hall, and if his bill is incorrect it will be corrected.
”I can’t even pay my rent things are so bad,” said Debbie Personette, owner of Bloomers N’ Things on South Main Street. “If my business is better I don’t mind putting money back into the town. What else do you want to put on us? We’re just trying to stay in business.”