The Tyrone Borough Authority met yesterday to consider the adoption of the water and sewer budgets for 2006.
\nBoth budgets were accepted and resolutions were approved that will mean increased costs for water customers and a major user of the borough\u2019s sewage treatment facilities.
\nFor the past several years, water customers in the borough have paid a surcharge of $1.33 per 1,000 gallons of usage. The money is used to help the borough repay a loan through PennVest. However, the current surcharge is not enough to make the yearly payment.
\nThe resolution passed yesterday will increase the surcharge to $1.50 per 1,000 gallons of usage. Borough manager Sharon Dannaway said the new rate would mean an increase of about 68 cents on the average water customer\u2019s bill.
\nAuthority chairman William Hall explained why the revenue from the PennVest surcharge has not kept up with the cost of the loan payment. He said the rate increase that went into effect in 2004 has led to a reduction in consumption. He said more and more people are using water-saving devices.
\nThe authority also passed a resolution that will impose a $45,000 reimbursement fee on the American Eagle Paper Mill.
\nThe borough and the mill have an agreement that caps the facility\u2019s costs at $429,000 per year. That agreement expires at the end of the year.
\nThe fee will allow the borough to recoup money it would have received the last two years had a cap not been in place. Without the cap, the borough would have taken in additional $229,000 from the mill based on actual usage.
\nIf collected over the next five years, the borough would recoup its money.
\nIn 2006, American Eagle will also pay for actual usage. The borough estimates actual usage at $550,000. With the reimbursement figure of $45,000, the mill\u2019s total cost is projected at $595,000.
\nHowever, Dannaway told The Daily Herald that the move is an \u201cinterim\u201d decision. She said the borough is considering all options regarding the mill\u2019s costs for 2007 and beyond. She said the recent moves were made to \u201calleviate litigation for both parties.\u201d
\nIn October, borough council discussed an increase of up to 65 percent as part of a five-year agreement. The 65-percent figure is equivalent to the amount passed onto other customers at the beginning of 2004. If the 65-percent increase were imposed, the mill\u2019s costs would rise to $953,000 per year. The $953,000 amount includes the $45,000 reimbursement figure.
\n Earlier this year, the mill had attempted to extend the original agreement and increase its capacity, but the borough turned down the request.
\nMill representative John Ferner said this morning, \u201cWe anticipate working out a long-term agreement. This is a positive start. Hopefully, sometime in the next few months we will come to some type of agreement that will be beneficial to both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Tyrone Borough Authority met yesterday to consider the adoption of the water and sewer budgets for 2006. Both budgets were accepted and resolutions were approved that will mean increased costs for water customers and a major user of the borough\u2019s sewage treatment facilities. For the past several years, water customers in the borough have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}