There won’t be too many decisions made in the future that will affect more people than the decision on whether to sell the publicly owned Butler Area Sewer Authority. Let’s try to establish the players and issues.

According to legal minds at the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, who deal with these issues daily across the state, it is illegal for the authority and the potential buyer to enter into a confidentiality agreement that hides the process from the taxpayers. Here in Butler that would be guilty as charged.

Kept secret behind this confidentiality agreement is the process Pennsylvania American is using to decide what BASA’s assets are worth. If the sale goes through, using the company’s past track record, the undisclosed cost of the study gets deducted from what is paid. If the sale does not go through, BASA is left holding the proverbial bag of waste and must pay for the study.

The authority is a joint venture between the city and township. Of the five board members, three are appointed by Butler City Council and two are appointed by Butler Township commissioners. None were appointed by Mayor Bob Dandoy, so the rumor that the mayor stacked the authority with his cronies can go away just like the Tidy Bowl water does.

So, what are the issues? Foremost is the question of whether the community is better off in the long run owning the authority or having it owned and operated by someone else.

For example, according to an article in the Philadelphia Enquirer, the accountants at Aqua Pennsylvania have their pencils sharpened — ready to start raising rates with every system it buys. They listed five communities where the systems were sold and the rates went up from a minimum of 47% to as high as 98% immediately.

The danger both ways is future costs to customers. Pennsylvania American is a big company with deep pockets and far more knowledge and resources than our well-meaning volunteer authority. Will they raise prices to improve and upgrade the system? Of course they will.

The concept of local ownership has its pros and cons too. BASA has neither the cash reserves nor a crystal ball to anticipate when the system will need major, expensive upgrades.

And state government loves to pass unfunded mandates that can devastate an entity like a water authority. How will those costs be covered? All the predictors — even Phil the groundhog — say it would be by raising rates for consumers just like a private company would.

Another issue is where the proceeds go after a sale. BASA will no longer exist. The city and township are main stakeholders, but would other municipalities whose residents are BASA customers — Center and Summit townships, East Butler and Connoquenessing — get a pro rata share? Maybe those answers are concealed deep inside the confidential agreements we are going to have to pay for without knowing the price until payment is due.

Our goal is not to make this decision for the people we elected to do it. We want to see an open, transparent process that discloses everything — not only what the attorneys decide they are in the mood to pass along. Selling now would be a mistake because it would destroy the faith the community has in a new administration. It would take us back to decisions like the movie theater debacle.

We believe Mayor Dandoy has the best intentions in this matter, but he may not be able to separate the facts from the crap being pushed down our sewage system.

No additional deals should be made until everyone who will be voting has talked to the municipalities across the state that have tried this extensive bowl movement. Then and only then should we flush.

— RV