English Helps Bring Cochranton Sewer Funds
Press Release
English Helps Bring Cochranton Sewer Funds
By: Ryan Smith
Meadville Tribune
Another $500,000 added to the coffers for Cochranton's public sewage system project could cut mandatory tap-in fees for borough residents in half, according to local and state officials.
Republican U.S. Rep. Phil English met with Cochranton officials Tuesday to announce the federal funding, which was approved by the state House Committee on Appropriations as part of the fiscal year 2009 Interior and Environmental Appropriations bill.
Finding ways to alleviate the financial burden on residents faced with previously-estimated $2,000 per-connection tap-in fees now knocked down to an estimated $1,000 and roughly $50 per month in average user fees has been on the top of Cochranton officials' agenda since the $9.5 million was mandated by the state Department Environmental Protection in 2000.
"This is going to go a long way toward helping us" further reduce costs for the borough's ratepayers, council President Bill Shorts said Tuesday.
Serving a population of approximately 1,100, Cochranton officials anticipate having roughly 650 paid connections to the sewage system, which is currently under construction and mandated to be in operation by the end of 2009. In ordering the project, DEP cited the potential for groundwater pollution because of the borough's lack of public sewage.
A major problem, officials have maintained, is that such environmentally-beneficial projects are being increasingly mandated across the state and nation, but without much of the necessary government dollars in place to make the projects happen.
"The cost of these improvements is huge," English said, and "what we need to be doing in Washington is setting aside more money generally to deal with this problem. ... We've never set aside adequate funds."
The bill still awaits official action on the House floor and must be approved by the Senate and the president before the funding is final, English said.
Other major funding for the project is in the forms of a 1 percent, 30-year-term loan of nearly $6.6 million loan and a grant of nearly $1.8 million secured in recent months through the state agency PennVEST.
"If you happen to stumble across any other (funds), we'll be here," Shorts told English
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