Waynesburg advertises sewage rate increase
Waynesburg’s sewage rates could be going up next year.
At its monthly meeting Monday, the Waynesburg Borough Council approved preparing and advertising an ordinance for an increase in monthly sewage fees that would average $5 per unit starting in 2027.
The hike is the first step in generating a $15-per-household monthly jump by 2029, when the borough will need to begin paying off a Rural Utilities Service loan for the upgrades to its sewer system, said Bob Dengler, project engineer for Gannett Fleming.
Dengler estimated the borough would pay about $500,000 in debt service annually on an $11 million loan. When Dengler and borough administrators began crunching the numbers a year ago, adding that amount to the sewer budget resulted in a deficit of about $244,000.
A revised version of the original RUS loan package should come next year, Dengler said.
Construction is anticipated to begin in the middle of 2027, lasting until the middle of 2028.
“At the end of construction, that’s when RUS will close on the loan, and then the borough will have to pay it back,” Dengler said.
Council members weighed whether to impose the entire fee now, or do it in increments over the next three budget cycles, eventually landing on the latter.
“Myself, I would rather just rip the Band-Aid off, and we’ll see what it is. But a lot of people can’t do that,” said Councilwoman Lynne Snyder.
Monday’s discussion spun out of Borough Manager Athena Bowman’s summary of the borough’s proposed budget.
Bowman said she doesn’t anticipate any tax increase.
The balanced general fund budget of $1,699,530 represents a 2.6% increase over 2026.
It did not include any estimated revenues from Act 13 funds, generated from impact fees from gas wells. The borough had received $260,967 for 2026.
“These numbers are educated guesses, and we don’t have some of the items,” like determinations of costs for health insurance and workers’ compensation, Bowman said.
Council voted to advertise the proposed budget for public review. It can be revised until Feb. 15.