The Western Butler County Authority is proposing changes to its sewage system — but its two smaller comprising members want answers to some concerns before taking further action.

At council meetings Monday and Tuesday, Zelienople and Harmony boroughs, respectively, discussed these proposed changes to sewage processing and associated costs and, by extension, a new plan under Act 537, the state's wastewater management law.

Concerns quickly arose, however, about the timeline of the authority's proposal, whether the proposed expenditures benefit the boroughs as much as the quickly expanding Jackson and Lancaster townships, and the costs that go along with the proposal.

Don Pepe, Zelienople borough manager, said much of the proposal, which tops $70 million in total expenditures that would be financed with a 50-year repayment term, is geared toward expansion costs, without clear indications of how current issues would be addressed.

“We need to be sure that there's a plan to repair those existing structures and existing systems,” he said.

Jackson township manager Chris Rearick said he hasn't yet reviewed the voluminous Act 537 plan draft, but he believes the boroughs' concerns should be assuaged by the income that expansion would generate for the authority.

“Philosophically, we would assume that some managed growth would assist in paying for existing system repairs, and I think that's what the WBCA's attempting to do, is accommodate some growth with the understanding that those monies could be used in part to make repairs in the existing system, but I've not had the chance to review the Act 537 plan,” he said.

Although Zelienople is willing to accept residential growth in the surrounding areas, Pepe said the needs of the geographically smaller boroughs should not be overlooked.

“Growth is OK, don't get me wrong, but the current issues need to be addressed too,” he said.

Harmony council had a similar question, asking whether it would be possible to instead maintain the current system, which was developed several decades ago. Council President Greg Such, who is also on the authority board, said Thursday that while there are ways to fix systems, it's sometimes better to start anew.

“The one we have lasted 60 years, so we have to figure out how to make the new one last for a good long time,” he said. “The EPA is getting stricter and stricter with the regulations about what comes out the other end.”

In Harmony, at least one member of council griped with how, in his view, costs borne by the authority would be spread across all customers, rather than mainly on developers in the expanding townships.Councilman Don Sims, who has previously shown an aversion to the borough taking on debt, wondered if the proposal to borrow tens of millions of dollars would increase sewage costs among existing customers.“My concern is, the developers need to be funding the expansion if, in fact, we need an expansion,” Sims said. “Are we sure that that's going to happen?”The borough's solicitor, Matt Racunas, said the authority's board has been “really thoroughly examining this issue for some time.”“The impact that's proposed right now on the $80 million project is really very minimal,” he added.But Sims contested that, saying other proposals for improvements with the authority have “doubled” his sewage rate. He argued tap-in fees for new construction should help fund the expansion, and the idea of special rate districts was thrown around.“Now you want to go out and get $70 to $80 million more debt, and I'm supposed to sit here and believe that there will be no impact?” Sims asked.The Harmony council declined to take formal action on the proposal Tuesday, instead opting to hear a presentation from the authority's engineer.Zelienople similarly did not take action, but authorized Pepe to send the authority a letter acknowledging receipt of the proposal and noting council's concerns.