Tarentum Council approves changes in water rates

Most Tarentum residents will be seeing a reduction in their water rates, while other customers, including in East Deer, will be getting an increase.

Council voted 6-0 Tuesday, with Erika Josefoki absent, to lower the base rate charged to the bulk of borough residents by $2, or 8%, from $25 per month to $23. That covers the first 2,000 gallons of water used.

The $25 rate had stood since it was increased to that amount in 2017, Councilman Jim Bonner said. It applies to those served with a 5/8-inch pipe.

The rates charged to all other customers were increased by 15%. Those rates, which vary by line size, had not been increased in 2017 and had been the same for about 10 years, Bonner said.

“That will kind of balance out things between the types of customers that we have in the borough,” he said. “They have different base volumes associated with them, but those would stay the same.”

The overage rate for all customers was increased by 90 cents, from $5.83 to $6.73 per 1,000 gallons.

“The rationale for all of this is to be a little more equitable between all of our users and to give a little bit more flexibility to those that could reduce their consumption they could also save money on their bills, as well,” Bonner said.

The new rates take effect on Jan. 1, 2021, Borough Manager Michael Nestico said.

Nestico called the rate changes a “good solution” that “distributes the burden.”

“After doing a pretty in-depth analysis, it’s not going to increase rates for many customers in a substantial fashion. People aren’t going to see anything on their bill that’s alarming,” he said. “It helps those five-eighths customers (save) a few dollars per month. If they go over, they might be back to where they are currently.

“It helps everyone across the board and kind of corrects a little bit of what was done in 2017,” he said.

Councilwoman Carrie Fox said she did not agree with, or vote for, the rate increase in 2017 because she didn’t feel it was equal across the board.

“I felt that every customer should have got an increase, and that did not happen,” Fox said. “I do feel that this levels out the playing field.”

Included in the resolution was a 15% increase in what Tarentum charges East Deer for bulk water. The per-1,000-gallon rates:

• First 200,000 gallons, from $4.04 to $4.65.

• Next 200,000 gallons, from $3.76 to $4.32.

• Next 200,000 gallons, from $3.50 to $4.03.

• Next 200,000 gallons, from $3.27 to $3.76.

• Next 200,000 gallons, from $3.06 to $3.52.

• Over 1 million gallons, from $2.88 to $3.78.

East Deer has used an average of 129 million gallons of water per year over the past four years, Nestico said this year.

Tarentum has been selling water to East Deer under a contract that dates to 1972 and has renewed every 15 years, most recently in 2017. It prevents Tarentum from increasing the rate it charges East Deer by more than 3 cents per 1,000 gallons without increasing rates on its own residents.

East Deer Commissioner Anthony Taliani could not be reached for comment.

In May, Tarentum council voted to notify East Deer it will opt out of the agreement when it expires in 2032 because it is no longer in the borough’s interests.