Fines continue as authority waits for federal appropriation

DUNNSTOWN - The Woodward Township Sewer Authority has seen this before ... the packed room and frustrated customers, the anger and the questions.

Authority members fielded a great many queries Monday evening, many of them again focusing on the perceived unfairness of the $1,500 re-connect fees and increased sewer bills that have been paid over the past year in connection with a major sewer line upgrade.

A large sewer fee hike occurred last year, and the recent $1.39 million project is requiring expensive hook-on fees of individual homeowners, many of whom are elderly and living on limited income.

The basic issue between the two sides?

The sewer authority says the financial woes are the result of many years of neglect by earlier boards. The critics say the financial woes are the result of the present authority's inability to handle money correctly.

The sewer upgrade was mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to resolve a long-standing problem with water infiltration in the township's sewer system.

Last year, the authority signed a consent decree that was supposed to have given it enough time to come up with the plans, find the money and start construction this June.

When the deadline passed, DEP began fining the authority for violating the agreement.

That placed the authority in a difficult position. It was waiting for a $500,000 allocation from the federal government, but without the appropriate documentation from that area, starting the project to avoid the state fines might place the federal allocation in jeopardy, according to Grants Coordinator Jessica H. Sheets, of Innovative Consulting Group Inc.

As it stands, the authority owes $15,250 in fines for failing to keep to schedule, and could owe $30,000 or more before the anticipated beginning of construction.

June 1, 2008 was established by the DEP as the deadline to begin construction. Any delay beyond that date results in civil penalties amounting to $250 per day.

The township sewer authority has applied for a 2008 appropriation request of $500,000 for a new pump station and force main in Woodward Township. The fiscal year 2008 Department of Interior bill contains language for the funding, but the money hasn't yet been released.

Sheets said the bill is being held up by politics, and the fact that this is an election year has complicated matters further.

In the meantime, the authority has gone to Sovereign and Northwestern banks to get a $1 million line of credit in case the funding doesn't come through.

Many aspects of the sewer upgrade have started or are well underway, but the sticking point is phase two of the project, including improvements to a pump station and a new line crossing the Susquehanna River to the Lock Haven Sewage Treatment Plant.

Sheets said the Clinton County Sewer Authority last month applied for nearly $1.8 million in PENNVEST funding for the line across the Susquehanna River for the Woodward Township project, along with work in the hill section of Flemington and a pump station and new six-inch line in Bald Eagle Township.

In the meantime, the authority moves forward with major sewer improvements in various sections of the township, a process that has been felt in the pockets of many township residents in the form of tap-on fees.

The sewer rates jumped at the beginning of last year, from $100 to $160 a quarter, or 65 percent. The authority is also following through on a warning to customers it will be taking the matter of bill collection very seriously.

The authority has been in the hot seat in recent years because of a DEP mandate requiring expensive sewer repairs to solve stormwater infiltration problems.

A frequent critic of the authority's practices, Robert E. Rooney of Webbwood, who was a member of the board until he lost his post in a shake-up of the authority late last year, suggested last night area residents were facing another sewer rate increase because of "wasteful spending practices of the board."

Rooney was also highly critical of the $900-per-month fee charged to the authority for using the township's municipal building, and the fact that several authority members are employees and are paid more than they might receive as mere members of the board.

Board Chairman Robert Everett told Rooney the fee was not just about space in the township office, but was more about the insurance costs attached to the operation, including a liability insurance jump of $8,000, and increases in the errors and omissions insurance and employee-related expenses.

Some residents asked why they were required to pay so much for a general line on top of tap-on fees and said more effort should have been made to seek grants, but that line of thought was quickly shot down by board members and Sheets, who told the audience the current members have been diligent in pursuing all financial avenues in an increasingly tight economy.

Rooney also questioned the fees charged by Innovative Consultants - $18,000 just last month - and board member Dunlap replied to Rooney, "You sat right here and signed the contract ... You signed everything."

Some audience members suggested a citizens' committee be established and manned by financial experts living in the township, to assist the authority in developing good financial practices.

Others pointed to sewer hook-up fees ranging well under $1,000 six or more years ago and wondered aloud why the residents and authority had to each pay $1,500 to accomplish that task.

As for whether DEP will eventually forgive some or all of the ongoing fines, Dunlap aid, "We can't keep raising rates ... We're hoping, but we are at their mercy."

Near the end of the meeting, township Supervisor James Bressi was blunt in his assessment of the authority's performance.

"If it was up to me, I'd get rid of them all," he said.

She said the federal and state governments have cut back on the amount of free money, and obtaining grants has become increasingly difficult, and filled with bureaucratic paperwork and competition. What's more, she said, while the township population has a great many elderly and low-income residents, U.S. Census figures place many of the township's residents above the income level that would allow for community development grants.

"Our problem is the appropriations process was thrown one year behind," Sheets said. "We explored many avenues ... Strategy has been a part of this, and it didn't happen overnight."

Dunlap, vice chairman, told the audience any project over $25,000 fell under the federal government's "prevailing wage" laws, which require a higher hourly pay for workers on projects receiving federal money.

Many of the answers from authority members were sparse on financial details and there were frequent promises to provide the information at a later date.

At the Aug. 18 meeting, the members received a draft of the 2008 budget, but it was not shared with the public. There was a note in the minutes suggesting the board should determine "where we can cut expenses since at present the budget had a deficit balance."

On the other side, the construction seems to be resolving some of the problems that have plagued the system. Officials noted the flows were "looking good and are lower than they were years past."

Board members again noted the financial problems that exist today had their birth in an authority of an earlier day that neglected basic maintenance issues.

Or as authority member Gene Ferrare put it, "They didn't do crap."

And authority member Ted Schmidt said the frustration that the customers felt is being felt by the members themselves, who often find themselves answering the same questions they answered many months ago for the same residents of the township.

"I get tired of hashing the same issues over and over again," he said.