Strattanville ups sewerage rates
By Rodney L. Sherman
CLARION NEWS Editor
STRATTANVILLE
After a lot of discussion and budget analysis, Strattanville Municipal Authority agreed to raise monthly customer service rates effective Aug. 1.
Sewerage service customers along "the 322 corridor" who currently pay a base rate of $41 per month will see that monthly rate increase to $56.
Sewerage service customers within Strattanville who currently pay $31 per month will see their monthly rate increase to $36.
Also, commercial businesses will go from $7 per thousand gallons to $9.60 per thousand gallons.
The "corridor" includes about 77 customers between Strattanville and Clarion along U.S. Route 322. Those customers pay a higher rate because their sewage is actually collected and treated by Pennsylvania-American Water.
PAWC then bills the Strattanville Municipal Authority for the service. The Strattanville Municipal Authority owns that portion of the system and in the past, PAWC has shown no interest in buying that part of the system.
It costs the SMA about $40,000 per year for the corridor customers.
A proposal to change the flow of the system and return the "corridor" sewage to the Strattanville treatment plant was deemed too costly.
Strattanville Municipal Authority board members Bob Rawson, Rick Thompson, Karen Reddick and Leann Bowser approved the rate increase at their July 14 meeting. Board member Jon Stants was absent.
In June, municipal authority Roxanne Davis told the SMA board rates for the corridor customers had increased by $7.47 over the past three months.
Davis said the SMA is losing about $9 per month on each of the corridor customers.
Budget analyses determined the rising costs of labor, supplies, insurances, maintenance and trying to rebuild a capital reserve called for a rate increase.
The last time the SMA increased rates was in 2018.
The Strattanville Municipal Authority had major capital reserve outlays this summer with major system repairs along Pine Street and sludge removal from two of the three ponds at the treatment plant.
The SMA plans on clearing the third pond at the treatment plant in five years. Such removal of sludge is periodically required to meet state Department of Environmental Protection requirements.
A meeting of Strattanville Borough Council was held immediate prior to the Municipal Authority session.
During that session it was acknowledged Strattanville has received its first installment of The American Relief Act money.
The borough received $26,062 in funding and will receive the same amount next year. However, the acceptable uses for the money are still not clear and the borough council did not commit to any use of the funding yet.
Also, 2022 calendars depicting the military veterans honored on various street banners throughout are now on sale at the borough office. The cost is $10. Anyone who would like one stop by the office or call 764-5359.
