Residents who use the Bath Borough Authority for their water and sewer needs will notice a slight decrease in their next quarterly bill. The Bath Borough Authority Board of Directors has announced a $5 reduction in customers’ quarterly surcharge, bringing the total down to $65 per customer (or per EDU for commercial customers). This reduction was approved during the Board’s February 16 meeting and will be reflected in customers’ next quarterly sewer charge.
This reduction comes after a $70 surcharge for all residential and commercial customers was implemented in 2021. The goal of the surcharge was to help the authority make payments on a $13 million loan from the USDA, which was taken out to pay for a new state-of-the-art sewer plant. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection mandated the plant.
The reason for this reduction, says the Authority, is due to the USDA reducing their loan interest rate from 2.75% to 1.75%. The Authority also allocated $1 million in its reserve fund (collected from tapping fees) toward the plant.
The Authority continues to explore ways to further reduce the surcharge.
Says George Gasper, Chairman of the Board of Directors, “As the Authority’s customer base increases, it may allow for future reductions in the quarterly surcharge.”
The new sewer plant went online in 2021, replacing the Authority’s 1965 plant. It has a capacity of 510,000 gallons per day. It features piping upgrades, a UV disinfection system, a rotary press, two batch reactor tanks, two aerobic digester tanks, an equalization tank, and a control building.
The Bath Borough Authority Board of Directors meets on the third Wednesday of every month at the Bath Borough Authority building at 7 p.m. Meetings are open to the public.
