Sewer authority presents budget, rates to stay level for 2018-19

No rate hike needed, projects to be funded from reserves

The 2018-19 budget for the Hatfield Township Municipal Authority is ready, and the news for sewer customers is good.

“Last year we had a sewer rate increase. We do not have that this year,” said Authority Executive Director Pete Dorney.

During the commissioners’ March 13 meeting, Dorney outlined the municipal authority’s planned revenues and expenses for the coming year, both of which are balanced at $8,589,550. Of that total, Dorney told the board, roughly $1.1 million of the expenses will be covered by using funds held in reserves for large construction projects.

“We balance it this year with utilizing money from the construction reserve account, that we have started to build up again after it was depleted a few years ago with our big interceptor project,” Dorney said.

“This is one of the first years that we’ll start pulling funds from the construction reserve. We have a fairly aggressive project list this year,” he said.

Total expenses on sewer line repairs and upgrades is budgeted at $2.1 million, Dorney told the board, and of that total roughly $1.1 million from the reserve account will be used to fund a line upgrade in the area of Lenhart Road.

“We’re pulling almost everything for the Lenhart Road project out of the construction reserve,” Dorney said; the balance of the fund after that expense will be “in the area of $6 million; it’s all reserved for specific projects.”

Other large expense categories for the sewer authority over the coming year include roughly $2.6 million in payroll and benefit costs and an additional $1.2 million in insurance and taxes. Utility costs for the sewer plant and its related infrastructure are estimated at $856,000, and Dorney said the authority works to keep those costs as stable as possible.

“Utilities is probably the one that’s the least predictable under most circumstances. However, we’ve been able to get lucky, and contract some good pricing on natural gas and electricity,” he said.

“We just signed an agreement for the next three years, which actually is almost a 20 percent decrease in our electrical costs, so that starts in January 2019 and will save us about $67,000 a year in electric costs, which is nice,” said Dorney.

Revenues for the sewer authority in 2018-19 are projected to reach $2.7 million in residential fees, $1.4 million in sewer rental fees, $1.09 million in industrial fees, and $1.65 million in trucked waste from other sources that the Hatfield plant processes.

Commissioner Gerry Andris said the municipal authority’s staff and volunteer board deserve congratulations for keeping costs low, and for only requesting increases rarely during Andris’ decade-plus as a commissioner.

“You’re not really boasting enough, but I think in all the time I’ve been on the board, you’ve only come in here once or twice asking for an increase,” he said.

“Your organization does a wonderful job of controlling expenses, and looking for ways to save. You guys should be commended,” Andris said.

Commissioner Bob Rodgers asked if the authority can seek grant funding to help cover the costs of any major projects, and Dorney said the authority does look, but often doesn’t qualify.

“Some of the ones we’ve seen are need-based, and they’ve looked at us in the past, when we’ve applied, and said ‘You don’t need it because your sewer rates are too low.’ Really, we’ve lost out on a couple because of that,” he said.

Resident Bun Hyndman asked if any new development in the township, such as a proposal to build roughly 65 houses on a parcel on Cowpath Road, would increase the authority’s expenses. They will not, Dorney answered, because any developer is responsible for building their own infrastructure to connect to the authority’s lines.

“If they need new sewer lines, they would have to put in the new sewer lines. It would hook into an existing sewer line,” Dorney said.

“On any development that comes in, they always put in their own sewer lines. It doesn’t cost the residents anything to put in those sewer lines: they also pay tapping fees to the authority, for the other costs, and then a sewer fee. So there’s no cost to any of the residents for new development,” he said.

For more information on the Hatfield Township Municipal Authority call 215822-9300 or visit www. HatfieldTwpAuthority.org.