Westmoreland municipal authority on track to purchase East Huntingdon sewer system

The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County reached a tentative agreement to purchase the small sewer system that currently serves about 800 East Huntingdon residents.

Authority officials said Wednesday the deal, which is pending approval from both township officials and municipal authority board members, would transfer East Huntingdon’s sewage treatment plant and about 800 customers to the county system.

East Huntingdon officials are expected to vote on the proposed deal in the next several weeks. Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County Manager Michael Kukura said the county board is slated to vote on the purchase on Jan. 20.

Financial details of the proposed purchase were not disclosed.

The East Huntingdon system generates about $475,000 a year, a number that is expected to increase after a proposed project is completed to extend sewer lines in the township that would add another 600 customers to the system.

“It’s a good system,” Kukura said of the East Huntingdon operation.

The Westmoreland authority was created in the 1940s as a water company based in Westmoreland County but since expanded its service to include customers in five counties. More than a decade ago, the authority branched out and started to purchase small sewer systems in the region.

It now has more than 28,000 sewer customers along with 120,000 water customers who account for more than 400,000 residents in the region.

The authority last summer purchased the Mt. Pleasant Borough Sewer Plant, which served about 3,200 customers in both Mt. Pleasant Township and Mt. Pleasant Borough. That deal called for the authority to pay Mt. Pleasant Borough $3 million and assume payments of $1.9 million for two existing loans.