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Customers connected to the Bristol Township Sewer Department will see their quarterly bill increase this year.
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Bristol Township Council last month approved a 10 percent price hike, as part of an effort to pay off a loan and cover rising operating expenses.
Bristol Township Manager Randee Elton said the rate hasn’t been increased in years, but the price hikes were held off the past few years due to COVID-19. She added that previous Township Manager Bill McCauley was supposed to raise the rates as part of the agreement with the loan holder, but she didn’t know why he didn’t increase the rate to pay back the loan.
“We can no longer put off raising the sewer rates. For the residential customer, this is an additional $10.09 to the $100.94 sewer rate per quarter,” Elton wrote in a budgeting document. “On a commercial, industrial and institutional rate it will depend on the usage but at minimum will increase between $35 to $45 on their billings either per quarter or semi-annually.”
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Township Council President Craig Bowen said he understands the rate hike might be a burden but it is needed.
The township is presently in the middle of a multi-million dollar project to improve the wastewater treatment plant in Croydon and expand capacity.
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The work to upgrade the aging facility is set to be done in summer of fall.
The township-owned sewer plant serves customers in parts of Croydon, West Bristol, and Newportville. Much of the rest of the township is served by the Lower Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority, who will not be impacted by the township price hike.
The Bristol Township wastewater treatment plant has long been troubled and millions have been used to fix those issues over the past decade. Township officials have previously alleged sabotage at the facility and had to enter into an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection over alleged violations of the Clean Waters and Clean Streams Acts in the 1990s and early 2000s.
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