Lower Burrell sewage bills to go up almost 8% next year

Lower Burrell Council agreed to raise a sewage rates by about almost 8% for the average household in 2021.

The quarterly bill of an average household will increase from about $155 to $165.50, according to city officials.

“The total bill increase is driven by processing costs from Municipal Sanitary Authority of New Kensington along with an aging infrastructure that the city must continue to repair and update to provide adequate sewage services,” said Councilman Rob Hamilton.

Specifically, the two charges on residents’ sewage bills are both increasing:

• The base rate is up by almost 7% from $107 to $114.50 a quarter;

• The consumption charge for the average household, based on the amount of water used for sewage, increased about 6%, from $48 to $51 a quarter.

The base rate increased because of the city’s continuing work to keep the city system in good shape, Hamilton said.

“People must realize that the sewer system is the city’s largest asset, and we must invest in it to ensure we are following all federal and state guidelines for sewage and water consumption,” Hamilton said.

Like other communities in the region, Lower Burrell and its sewage processor, the Municipal Sanitary Authority of New Kensington, have been under orders by environmental agencies to update and cleanup their sewage systems to prevent raw or partially processed sewage from entering local waterways.

The city has a long-term control plan for sewage system upgrades estimated to cost about $31 million.

The increased costs for processing sewage were passed on to the city from the Municipal Sanitary Authority of New Kensington, Hamilton said.

Details on the rate hike from New Kensington’s sanitary authority were not available.