Sewage customers of the Saxonburg Area Authority will pay a little more in March.

The authority board Monday approved a 2011 budget of $6.3 million that includes a rate hike of $1 per 1,000 gallons.

The increase, which takes effect for the January to February billing cycle, makes the new total monthly bill $63.83 for residential customers paying a flat fee.

Metered customers will pay a total of $15.50 per 1,000 gallons.

Jay Rinebolt, chairman of the authority board, said in an interview Tuesday the customer service base needed to expand further than it did to stave off a rate hike.

“We haven’t had enough development,” he said.

In addition to Saxonburg, the authority services Clinton, Jefferson, Middlesex and Penn townships.

Bills based on the new rates won’t be due until March.

The budget is $1.6 million more than this year’s $4.7 million.

Authority manager Paul Cornetti said in an interview the budget increase is due to the inclusion of a $2 million project which entails the replacement of sewer lines along Main and Water streets.

However, Cornetti said the project is not the reason for the rate hike.

He said the increase is part of the authority’s multiyear plan to stay ahead of rising expenses.

The first such increase occurred in 2009 with the next one set for 2013. Cornetti said the increases will no longer be necessary after 2017 if the customer base expands.

“It depends on how much development we get into the system,” he said.

Rinebolt said delaying a small rate hike now would only create the need for a larger one later.

“If we would have put it off, it would have been worse,” he said.