Summit Township's new sewage system will cost approximately $16.5 million, but the sewer authority and supervisors are looking for funding sources to shrink the bill to the township.

While the mandatory $6,000 tap-in fee from each of the approximate 400 equivalent dwelling units in the township will help pay the bill, Dave Barry, sewer authority chairman, said the township is looking at financial aid options for both the project and the tap-in fee.

The state grant program PENNVEST is a significant financial option, according to Barry.

“We're hoping for it to cover 50 to 60% of the cost,” Barry said. “Basically they are waiting for us to get our (Department of Environmental Protection) application approved. Once we get that, we can go to PENNVEST and get grant money and that time they will tell us how much we can get.”

The township also offered residents applications to apply for the Community Development Block Grant. Barry said the township has saved up years worth of CDBG grant money, so as many residents as possible could have their entire tap-in fees paid off.

CDBG applications were due Oct. 1 and Barry said about 50 people applied.

The grant money is usable for a three-year period, so residents who applied could still have their tap-in fee funded by the time the project is completed, he said.

“The ones who didn't get money will transfer over to next year,” he said.

The township submitted permits to the DEP this month, Barry said. The township is currently making preparations to handle grant money.

“We're opening up a bank account for this whole system now,” Barry said. “We'll use the old (CDBG) money first, and hopefully we get everyone who qualifies paid for, because we don't want to lose it.”

The sewage plan calls for sewage line installation along Herman Road from Herman to the treatment plant, which will be built on a six-acre lot the township bought near the old Franklin ballfield on Herman Road. A portion of Bonniebrook Road and Brinker Road will be served by a secondary line.

Construction on the system will tentatively begin in 2023.