The Schuylkill County Municipal Authority's $21 million sanitary sewer project in the Deer Lake area is more than 35 percent complete, Patrick M. Caulfield, authority executive director, said Tuesday.
The authority plans to have the Deer Lake/West Brunswick Township Sanitary Sewer Upgrade and Expansion Project operational by fall 2014 and board members decided at their June meeting it's time to adopt a tapping fee of $3,000 and a connection fee of $1,000.
The calculation was based upon the initial tapping and connection fee calculation for the Deer Lake and West Brunswick Township system completed by Systems Design Engineering Inc., Reading, in compliance with Pennsylvania Act 57 of 2003, Caulfield said.
Gregory Unger, vice president at Systems Design, attended Tuesday's meeting.
"The summary of Greg's report states we can charge up to a total of $7,000 for the combined tapping and connection fee, but it is management's recommendation to the board to consider a tapping fee of $3,000 and a connection fee of $1,000," Caulfield said.
The board approved the fees unanimously with a motion by Franklin K. Schoeneman, the board's assistant treasurer, seconded by John D.W. Reiley, Pottsville mayor and the board's second vice chairman.
The project is described in detail on the authority's website at scmawater.com
"Homeowners are urged to contact a local plumber now to assess and plan for connection to the system. SCMA will construct the main sewer lines and individual laterals to each property line. Customers will be responsible for construction of the sewer lateral from the property line to the home and any interior plumbing work necessary to connect. Customers are also urged to begin budgeting for the tapping fee that will be due at time of connection," according to the website.
"The threshold is if you're 150 feet or closer to the system, you are required to connect if you have an existing home or commercial property, structure ... " according to Sudhir Patel, Pottsville, the authority's solicitor.
"That's based on an ordinance passed by West Brunswick Township called the 'Mandatory Connection Ordinance,' " Caulfield said.
Meanwhile, the board encouraged certain property owners in West Brunswick Township to hook up to its new sewer system now.
Also on Tuesday, the board approved an "Optional Connection Agreement," which applies to two types of property owners:
- Those who have no buildings on their properties who are planning future construction. "Because there's no building or structure on those properties, those properties do not necessarily have to connect to the system right now," Patel said.
- Those who have properties more than 150 feet from the sewer line, who are not required to connect, but have decided to. "If you're 151 feet or farther from the system, you do not have to connect. We can't make them. However, they may elect to," Patel said.
"If they elect to connect now, we are offering to those residents the contract price for the lateral and we would charge them a tapping fee and we'll have a lateral basically waiting for them to develop. They will not get charged a monthly user rate fee up until the time they develop. And this will be a one-time and one-time-only optional connection agreement," Caulfield said.
"If they get it in now, it can be a real savings because some of those cuts down there along Fort Lebanon Road, Hickory Lane and along Route 895, it's an 18- to 20-foot deep sewer. So, if you come in after the fact and need to dig and connect to an 18-foot-deep sewer line at your cost, you're never going to get it as cheap as you are now," Caulfield said.
It is estimated there are 96 property owners in West Brunswick Township who are eligible to take part of this agreement. So far, seven property owners have requested the connections, Caulfield said.
"Do we have any potential developments along there?" Schoeneman asked.
"This is moreso for individual connections. When you talk development with multiple connections, the recommendation there would be to enter into a separate developer agreement," Caulfield said.