Brownsville Municipal Authority raises rate 50 cents
BROWNSVILLE – Brownsville Municipal Authority customers will see a fifty-cent increase in the base rate on the bills going out this week. The new rate of $14.50 for the first 3,000 gallons of use went into effect Jan. 1; this is the first bill to go out since the new rate went into effect.
The authority is in the process of upgrading the plant to meet the conditions of the consent order from the state Department of Environmental Protection. The authority met with the DEP in December for an update on the consent order, at which time the DEP said a new order would be issued.
“I have not received the third proposed consent order from the DEP. Until we get that, there’s nothing we can do other than report to them as required under the existing consent order,” said Ernest DeHaas, the authority’s solicitor.
Engineer Rusty Mechling said the recent snow and expected rains later this week will provide his office with an opportunity to measure high level flows in the sewer lines in the Hiller area. There has been flooding in that area in the past and the authority has been trying to determine where the excess water is coming from.
“We may not get any basement flooding. We do have some critical locations where we want to get some flow. We know the areas where we need to look now,” Mechling said.
Mechling said crews will use a portable meter to gather the flow statistics at various manholes in Hiller.
The authority is still looking into investment possibilities for some of its funds. A National City Bank advisor had presented information about a cash advantage fund, but DeHaas said he is still trying to determine if the authority is permitted to invest in the fund, even though it invests only in government securities. DeHaas said that while the fund itself would have to be set up as a separate company from other funds being offered that invest in the stock market, so the authority wouldn’t be open to risk.
Under state law, authorities can only invest in federally insured accounts, government securities or in companies that only invest in government securities.
“There were a lot of school districts in Pennsylvania that invested a lot of money with a person who embezzled or lost a lot of that money,” DeHaas said. “There is an obvious reason in this restriction in the state law. “Public funds should only be invested in things that are guaranteed.”
The authority board also voted Tuesday to increase the pay for office staff by 75 cents an hour and for the plant superintendent by $1.00 an hour. Union employees at the plant automatically receive raised under their contract, but the office staff and superintendent do not.