Authority lowers rates for fire sprinklers
POTTSTOWN >> Who says you can’t fight borough hall?
In June, a group of irate residents of the new homes in the Lower Pottsgrove development of Spring Valley Farms showed up at a Pottstown Borough Authority meeting.
They were upset about the quarter water bills they were receiving, not for the drinking and bath water, but their fire sprinkler systems.
The rates were awfully high, they said, adding with some additional ire, that the fact that they would have to pay these quarterly bills was not disclosed to them when they bought their homes.
There wasn’t much that the authority could do about a dispute with their home seller, but they could do something about the rates.
And, to some moderate surprise, they did.
Borough Authority Manager Justin Keller said during Tuesday night’s Authority meeting that the finance department took their complaints to heart.
A comparison of the authority’s rates to surrounding areas found that not only had Pottstown not changed them in a long time, but they were on the high side, this despite the fact that Keller insisted they represented the cost of providing the water and maintaining the water lines.
Nevertheless, most of the 25 or so people at Tuesday night’s meeting had one-inch water lines that feed their sprinkler systems, and their bills were reduced from $40.58 per
quarter to $25 per quarter, a 38.4 percent decrease.
“I’m happy,” said one resident.
But some, not entirely satisfied with still having to pay such bills on recently purchased homes starting at $290,000, asked for a refund of their previous payments at the higher rate.
There will be no refunds,
said Chairman Jeff Chomnuk. “How is that even legal?” asked a homeowner who admitted to not being “technical.”
Authority Solicitor Vincent Pompo explained that legally, new rates are “not retroactive.”
“Oh, OK,” replied the homeowner.
Keller also explained that a separate line for the sprinkler system is necessary to guarantee maximum pressure at all times.
“If you had one line and you were watering your lawn when a fire started, we would not be able to guarantee there would be enough pressure for the sprinkler system when its needed,” he said.
The reduction in rates is not even the biggest savings. According to the rates Keller outlined verbally, those with a 1.5-inch line to their sprinkler systems will see a 61 percent decrease, from $77 per quarter to $30.
Those with a two-inch line will see a 54 percent reduction from $86.63 per quarter to $40 per quarter, he said.
A three-quarter-inch line will see a 6.5 percent savings, from $21.40 per quarter to $20 per quarter under the new rates adopted last night.