None of Western Butler County Authority's four member municipalities — Jackson and Lancaster townships, Harmony and Zelienople — disagree with the need for better sewage infrastructure.

But as with everything — especially a $64 million project — the devil's in the details.

Although both Jackson Township and Harmony approved the authority's Act 537 plan, which is necessary for the state Department of Environmental Protection to approve the sewage improvements, neither Lancaster nor Zelienople have given it a thumbs-up.

Don Pepe, Zelienople borough manager, said council has a series of questions, but WBCA's answers haven't satisfied their concerns.

“The question here is: Are the answers that we're getting sufficient to answer the concerns of the people who are asking the questions?” Pepe said.

But, the borough manager said, Zelienople council is more than willing to approve a plan they feel is appropriate.

“The four municipalities, we're not just idly going to sign, nor are we going to be obstructionist just to be obstructionist,” Pepe said. “I think we just need to be able to feel comfortable with what's going to be the right choice, so the choice can be made.”

John Trant, Lancaster's interim manager, deferred a request for comment until the June 30 board of supervisors meeting.

Cost concerns

It's a $64 million project. But, in queries sent by the two municipalities that haven't yet approved the plan, does it have to be?

And how will the cost affect the ratepayers?

In a Feb. 2 email to Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, or HRG, an engineering firm servicing WBCA, Zelienople council asked a number of questions related to how the cost would be absorbed by WBCA customers. For instance, council expressed concern about how both improvement to the water pollution control facility and the Harmony pump station would increase rates.

Moreover, council expressed concerns about WBCA's growth projections. Because the authority plans on paying down some of its debt with tap fees primarily from new construction, Zelienople wanted to know what would happen if growth targets were not met.

“It is unrealistic to perform rate impacts assuming no developments will occur, considering the number of developments currently in planning or construction, including those within Zelienople Borough,” HRG's Feb. 24 reply stated.

Another concern, sent to WBCA by Zelienople May 26, was that higher sewage rates would affect “the borough, since we have two utilities as well.”

“If WBCA rates are high, it limits what we can do” in terms of rate increases, the message to WBCA stated.

And despite having stated four months prior that it would be unrealistic to look at rate impacts assuming no growth, WBCA answered that hypothetical in two ways. First, in the authority's June 8 reply to Zelienople, it stated it would pause the project if growth projections — which the authority described as conservative — decreased prior to construction. Second, the authority argued rate increases with zero new construction would still result in good rates to ratepayers.

“This 'worst-case' showed that the rate increase would amount to less than projected inflation over the next 29 years with service being $27.00/1,000 gallon in 2050 and inflation resulting in $27.50/1,000 gallon in 2050,” the response stated. “Should new customers be added to the system, that rate will only go down.”

To Pepe, it's understandable that council is concerned about the future rate impacts, considering the high cost and long loan term of the project.

“What happens to the debt service over time?” Pepe asked. “This is a very expensive project — and it may be necessary, don't get me wrong — but 20, 30 years from now, people are still going to be paying for it.”

Location laments

Another wedge between Zelienople and WBCA is whether the location for the authority's water pollution control facility is adequate. On April 22, the borough planning commission — and in its May 26 inquiry, Zelienople council — asked why the authority eschewed the possibility of using a swath of land on the Zelienople Municipal Airport property.

In its responses, WBCA summarily swatted that possibility down. Not only would it cost more, the authority argued — in part because it would have to repurpose the existing facility to a pump station, couldn't reuse infrastructure and would have to build lower within the floodplain — using the site would create additional headaches.

Because more than half of the proposed property lies within Beaver County, according to WBCA, the Beaver municipality would have to adopt WBCA's Act 537 plan and an intergovernmental agreement would need to be adopted. The WBCA would then have to report to both the northwest and southwest Department of Environmental Protection regional offices.

Despite that answer, Pepe said Zelienople council is still nonplussed at the lack of alternative options presented to it.

“I'm not so sure it's that any other particular option has been dismissed,” he said. “The issue here is we haven't been presented with another viable option, whatever that may be.”

But Autumn Crawford, WBCA administrator, said the worries about cost are misguided given the larger expense of other alternatives, and said potential costs are only going to rise with more delays.

“Holding up the project is only going to cost you, your taxpayers, the ratepayers more,” she said, given the currently low — but likely-to-rise — interest rates and the length of time it takes for the Department of Environmental Protection to approve Act 537 plans.

Alternative answers

What's the solution to this infighting?

Pepe said he believes it could be solved by “another neutral party's assessment of the plan and an assessment of the questions that are being asked.”

Crawford said she has concerns about the cost and length of time it would take to conduct such an assessment. She added WBCA has tried to be transparent and helpful throughout the approval process.

“We never went into this thinking, 'We don't expect to have to answer questions,'” Crawford said.

But given the concerns of Lancaster and Zelienople, combined with the cost of the project, Pepe said he isn't sure the plan can be approved without such an outside look, even though sewage improvements are objectively necessary.

“It just can't continue the way it is to be an effective way of dealing with sewage; there has to be another way,” he said. “I applaud them for coming up with this plan, it's just that we need to figure out if this is the best one. ... Each elected official has a responsibility and they have to feel, when they cast their vote, that it's the right thing to do.”