Feb 6, 2008 By Christine Haines 3 min read

LUZERNE TWP. – The Luzerne Township Sewage Authority is preparing to take action against property owners who are delinquent in paying their sewerage bills or who have failed to tap-in to the system as required. The authority Monday approved an agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to pay a fine of $34,000 in four annual installments of $8,500. The DEP had originally fined the authority $39,000, but agreed to reduce the amount. It was reported that the authority has taken steps to remedy the past infractions, but getting everyone tapped into the system is part of meeting the DEP requirements.

There were complaints about raw sewage in the streets of Tower Hill due to some residents on Chestnut and Main streets who have not yet tapped in to the sewer lines.

“If we don’t address it, everybody in the township is going to be paying $45 a month in fines,” said Pat Ballon, the authority’s recently appointed chairman. “We’d rather have the money going to the system.”

Ballon said it is also important for all of the authority’s customers to pay their bills on time. Ballon said the previously adopted fee structure was based upon a customer count that included 27 duplexes that are actually single-family homes, so if customers are delinquent, the authority doesn’t have enough income to meet its bills.

Ballon said financial assistance is available for residents in the authority’s service area who are unable to afford the tap-in fee, but those people need to fill out an application that is available at the authority office.

“By March, we have to check every street to make sure everyone is hooked up properly,” Ballon said. “There’s no excuse at this point. It’s not what we say, it’s what the federal people who loaned us the money say.”

Joe Terravecchia, the newly-appointed vice chairman, said plans are progressing for the installation of sewer lines in the Swan Plan and out Telegraph Road to Patsy Hillman Park. Terravecchia said it would cost an estimated $1.6 million to $1.7 million, depending on whether the lines are connected to the Brownsville Municipal Authority’s system or taken to the Redstone Township Sewer Authority plant in Allison.

In order to keep the monthly customer fees under $50, Terravecchia said the authority would need to come up with about $700,000 in grant money for the project.

“That sounds like a lot, but there are a lot of places to go for these grants,” Terravecchia said. “We’ve been working at this since 1973 in the Swan Plan, and I have the documentation of what we’ve done.”

Terravecchia said the long history of attempting to get public sewerage in the Swan Plan should help move the project forward. He said plans to develop an environmental education park at Patsy Hillman Park might also help fast track the project.

“My goal is the fall of 2008 for installation,” he said.