Judge issues temporary injunction, halts sewer rate hike in Canonsburg-Houston area

After hearing nearly an hour of arguments Wednesday morning, a Washington County judge ordered a temporary halt to a rate increase that was scheduled to affect about 16,000 customers of Canonsburg-Houston Joint Sewer Authority.
Judge Michael Lucas said his concern about whether necessary procedures were followed prompted him to issue a temporary injunction regarding a rate increase that would boost a base charge of $5.38 per 1,000 gallons to $11.57.
The judge scheduled testimony for the morning of Wednesday, July 11, to determine if the injunction should remain in effect.
Seeking the temporary injunction were attorneys for Cecil, Chartiers and North Strabane townships and their municipal authorities.
“The rate increase has caused consternation across multiple municipalities because of its magnitude,” said Romel L. Nicholas of Pittsburgh, lead attorney for the townships.
As someone who has monitored sewer authority bills for 35 years, Nicholas said, “This is off the charts.” He attributed the increase to the authority’s change of engineering firms. He also questioned if the sewer authority met its obligation to inform the state Department of Environmental Protection of its plans and gain the agency’s approval.
Attorney Steven Toprani, representing Canonsburg-Houston Joint Authority, told the judge there had been “significant communication” between the authority and townships before the authority board adopted a rate increase April 4, meeting a 60-day hiatus before the new rates were to take effect.
“It’s not that this rate increase fell from the sky,” Toprani said.
Population growth and commercial development placed demands on the Canonsburg-area sewer system that the rate increase will fund, Toprani continued, noting a closing on a $20 million bond issue that had been set for May 30 had to be postponed because of pending litigation.
“The bond market changes,” he said. “If rates change, the underlying rates are going to increase beyond where they are today.”
Nicholas’ counter-argument is that once a bond issue is completed, “There’s no calling it back.”
The sewer authority is seeking to increase flow capacity, eliminate bacterial contamination, upgrade lines and expand its wet-weather pump station from 2 million to 4 million gallons per day.
Its sewage treatment plant along Chartiers Creek is more than 50 years old, having been built when the surrounding communities were mostly farmland.