Feb 21, 2008 By Christine Haines 3 min read

BROWNSVILLE – The Brownsville Municipal Authority adopted its 2008 budget without an increase in rates. The authority has budgeted nearly $1.2 million for operations in 2008. Chairman Fred Provance said the authority should not need a rate increase for many years under the current rate structure and budgeting. Provance said the authority’s collection rate has been good.

There has also been a good response to requests for Brownsville Municipal Authority customers to remove downspouts and other storm water from the sanitary sewer lines, Provance said. According to the plant superintendent Jim Knisley, an initial inspection showed 246 storm water connections, with 186 customers responding to the letters sent out by the authority to correct the problem. Knisley said there are still about 60 customers with lines illegally connected to the sanitary sewer system.

“Some weren’t illegal when they went in, if it was a combined sewer area,” Knisley said. “Now we’re separated.”

The municipal authority was ordered by the state Department of Environmental Protection to separate the storm water from the sanitary sewer lines as part of the system improvements that included building a new plant above the flood plain.

Knisley said Tuesday there is still a problem with one storm drain near the Lane Bane Bridge. Knisley said the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said that while it owns the catch basin, Brownsville Borough owns the line entering the sanitary sewer system. Knisley said the storm drain couldn’t just be disconnected from the sanitary sewer because the drainage would cause a road hazard.

Over the past several months the authority has also been in discussions with Luzerne Township to provide service to the Swan Plan and with the Center-West Joint Sewer Authority to treat sewage from West Brownsville and part of Centerville boroughs.

“That’s not going too well. We keep spending money through our engineering for the Swan Plan and West Brownsville, now West Brownsville is going to build their own plant. I think we should bill them for these expenses,” Provance said.

The Brownsville Municipal Authority spent more than $600 in the past month for its engineer to attend meetings related to the Swan Plan sewer project.

Meanwhile, Luzerne Township is also considering the Redstone Township Sewer Authority for service to the Swan Plan and the Center-West Joint Authority is thinking about constructing its own treatment plant.

“I don’t think we should spend any more money on engineering fees for the Swan Plan or West Brownsville until they make a decision,” said Henry Vulcan.

In other matters, Rusty Mechling of Fayette Engineering said the authority’s old plant that was damaged by recent flooding has been inspected both by engineers from his firm and by the DEP. Mechling said that while the DEP has given verbal approval for the demolition of the old plant, formal written permission has not yet been received. The consent order originally called for the old plant to be used as storage for overflow.