HARRISVILLE — Borough council had a full meeting room Monday night, but only one resident discussed the area's recent sewage issues.

Joe Lowers, the owner of a car detailing business, said both he and the borough found some clarity during the meeting, but there has yet to be a resolution for some business owners who saw their sewage rates increase last month.

“There's a lot of rumors and innuendo going on,” Lowers said. “I think if we keep the lines of communication open, I think everything will be OK.”

At Monday's meeting, April Anschutz, council president, said the borough's engineering firm is still calculating rates based on meter readings, which was an option offered to the businesses that believed their rates were too high.

Lowers said he has installed a meter, and will continue to work with the borough on resolving problems with his sewage bill, which rose 320 percent after the rate hike.

“I can't pay a sewer rate like they're asking. That's just crazy,” he said.

During public comment, Lowers discussed the funds that manage Harrisville's participation. He said he did not accuse the borough of losing money in the sewer fund and added that his previous comments were misunderstood.

To quell concerns, Anschutz said the borough has about $250,000 set aside in the sewer fund for maintenance of its pumps. She said it would also not be in the borough's best interest to pay its share of Grove City's final phase of upgrades, which will cost the borough more than $400,000, through the sewer fund.

“If we took that money and paid Grove City, we would deplete all of our money,” Anschutz said. “We know we can't deplete all of our funds.”

Lowers said the confusion might have come from his suggestion that too much money was coming from the sewer fund to pay the borough's two full-time employees, a change that came around the same time as the rate increases.

“This sewer fund that we discussed, too much of a percentage of it is going into payroll where it shouldn't be,” he said. “That money should be used to help pay this loan payment to Grove City.”

Earlier in the meeting, Anschutz said there has been no misappropriation of sewer funds, and residents are welcome to verify that through borough records.

“We're audited. Our audits for the sewer fund are right there. You can look through it,” Anschutz said, pushing a stack of papers to the edge of the table.

As for his business, Lowers said he will have to wait and see what rates the engineers come up with. He said there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but he will stand firm if the future of his business is at stake.

“The last thing I want to do is keep on fighting with this,” Lowers said. “I'm sure they don't want to fight with me, but I'm not going to lay down and take an increase like I got.”