Water rates hiked

The average household will pay about $35 more per year for water as the result of a unanimous vote by the Pottstown Borough Authority.

While its residents were counting votes on primary election night May 16, the borough authority was approving a 9.7 percent increase to the water usage rate and a 17 percent increase to the base rate all residential users pay no matter how much water they use.

The increase will generate additional revenues of $350,000 in 2017 and about $700,000 when the new fees have been in place for a full year by the end of 2018, according to Robert Plenderleith, the borough’s utilities administrator.

The authority serves customers in Pottstown and portions of Lower Pottsgrove, Upper Pottsgrove and West Pottsgrove.

Much of that will go into the authority’s capital budget, which is being used according to a regularly updated five-year plan to repair and replace aging infrastructure in a water and sewer system now nearly 100 years old.

Putting money into the capital budget ahead of projects has eliminated the need for the authority to borrow to pay for needed upgrades and repairs — ultimately a cost savings as interest is earned by the money saved instead of being paid out on bonds.

However some of the additional funds being raised will also be used for regular operations and maintenance, said Plederleith.

The new residential base rate for being connected to the water system will increase from $35 per quarter to $41 per quarter — a 17 percent increase — Plenderleith indicated in an email to Digital First Media.

The new usage rate will increase from $2.78 per 748 gallons to $3.05 per 748 gallons a 9.7 percent hike.

Taken together, that will increase the average household’s quarterly bill by 14 percent, from $62.80 to $71.50 — a $34.80 increase over the course of a year, Plenderleith wrote

He also wrote that the increase amounts to about 10 cents per day for the average residential water customer.

Plenderleith noted that it has been more than seven years since the usage fee was last raised in January, 2010. Further, the last base fee increase was six years ago, in January, 2011.

Additionally, the authority board approved a 10 percent increase to bulk water rates, from $3.60 per 1,000 gallons to $3.96 per 1,000 gallons, a change that affects North Coventry public water users, who buy water in bulk from the authority.

It will also mean increased cost for those who use bulk water for commercial or industrial uses or to fill swimming pools.

The increase is not a total surprise.

Back in October, when the Borough Authority adopted 2017’s $6.56 million water budget, the rate increase halfway through the year was built in.

A potential sewer rate increase was contemplated as well in that budget, but Plederleith indicated May 18 a more recent analysis shows the current sewer rates — last increased in 2014 — continue to be adequate to support the capital program.