Randy Lindenmuth, secretary of the Orwigsburg Municipal Authority, presented borough council with a detailed breakdown of a 20-year-old agreement that included West Brunswick Township and the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority. The agreement included two West Brunswick areas adjacent to Orwigsburg — Lee Court and Country Hill Road.
The agreement, signed in 2001, called for West Brunswick to contribute a representative portion of the upgrade capital investment of the sewage treatment plan in Orwigsburg, which amounted to 2.514%.
In 2013, West Brunswick assigned SCMA the responsibility to provide sanitary systems for the township. SCMA also requested that billing be based on the cost per Equivalent Dwelling Unit, or EDU, instead of meter flow readings.(Individual homes are rated at one EDU, whereas commercial, industrial and institutional establishments equal two, three or more.)
In 2013, Orwigsburg provided a flow of 1476 EDUs, and West Brunswick contributed 66. As per the agreement of 2013, the rate per EDU was calculated to be $65.08 per quarter.
Comparable rates being charged by to neighboring townships by SCMA are as follows: Butler Township, $65/month, Deer Lake, $80/month, Branch/Cass, $78/month. These rates do not include additional charges such as tapping, connection and certification fees.
After months of studying the 2001 agreement, Lindenmuth and members of the Orwigsburg Municipal Authority discovered some miscalculations dating back to 2013.
In the 2013 calculation, the cost per EDU was figured at $42 instead of $65.08. Thus, the borough had been billing SCMA incorrectly since 2013. To date, the only increase occurred one year ago when the borough began billing residents at $47/EDU. At issue is what SCMA charges the residents of Lee Court and Country Hill Road, and what they remit to the borough of Orwigsburg. Lindenmuth figured the borough has been losing about $20,000 per year based on the miscalculation.
SCMA is billing the residents of Lee Court and Country Hill Road a total of $80/month but has only been remitting $14/month to the borough as per the 2013 agreement. That rate has been increased to $15.65/month. Residents of Orwigsburg are paying the borough directly at a rate of about $40/month – much closer to the 2013 calculation.
The Orwigsburg Sewer Authority along with council members said they are working diligently on making the billing and payment numbers more favorable for borough residents and charging SCMA an equitable amount.
No decisions were made at the meeting regarding amending the agreement. The borough has solicited bids for management of the water and sewer systems, as the agreement with Miller Environment is scheduled to renew in May.
Source: Berkshire mont