West Leechburg Borough Council will hold its 2023 budget meeting on October 25, 2023 at 5:30pm at the Borough Building.

Council Highlights 9/13/23
Among other things, council:

• Heard from the borough engineer regarding the income surveys on 9th streets and nearby areas. The borough still needs one more survey returned in order to apply for the grant it is seeking.
• Discussed grant applications and approved resolutions 4, 5, and 6 authorizing applications for grant money.
• Discussed slow progress on a previous grant we applied for. (Applied for in December, 2022. The state has yet to award this grant to anyone).
• Discussed Lower Kiski Ambulance Service’s financial issues and their outreach to the member municipalities.
• Approved an agreement with the Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority to handle billing for the sewer user fee.
• Discussed code enforcement issues.
• Set the date for council’s budget meeting as October 25, 2023 at 5:30pm.
• Set the date for trick-or-treat as 10/31/23 from 6pm-8pm.
• Discussed efforts to revitalize the memorial bricks at the park.
• Approved the AKIGC Year 3 agreement. 

At the 8/9/23 council meeting, ordinance 332 was passed establishing a sanitary sewer user fee. The fee will be $40 per equivalent dwelling unit per quarter. An equivalent dwelling unit is the technical term that generally means a standard house/apartment.

The fee will be billed by an outside agency. The billing agreement has yet to be approved, so details on that will be posted at a later date. This fee will take effect January 1, 2024 and will be billed quarterly, so bills will not come out until later in the year. Again, once the billing agreement is approved, more details on what residents should expect will be posted.

Why do we need this and how is it different from the sewer bill you already receive?

The bills residents currently receive from the Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority are for the authority's cost to transport and treat sewage from the borough. The authority's sewer maintenance only starts at specific collection points and the borough is responsible for getting sewage to those collection points. The vast majority of sewer lines in town are owned and maintained by the borough.

That means the bills residents currently receive do not in any way pay for the borough's sanitary sewer maintenance and improvement costs. This new fee will be used exclusively to maintain the borough-owned portion of the sewer system.

Why now?
Much of the borough owned sanitary sewer system is reaching the end of its functional life. Terra cotta sewer lines and brick manholes are starting to develop issues. Necessary projects are estimated in the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. And that doesn't include regular maintenance or emergency repairs.

This fee will allow the borough to carry out necessary repair and improvement projects and to have the funds to match grants.

How was the fee determined?
The amount was decided by the borough based on several factors. It took into account current loan costs for previous sewer repairs, the current cost of maintenance on the sanitary sewers, projected costs like additional engineering, and building a reserve in order to handle emergency sewer repairs or match grants if we are able to get them. A total was added up from all that and then divided by the number of billable equivalent dwelling units and divided by each quarter.

In order to look at the reasonableness of the fee, the secretary contacted several surrounding municipalities to find out what their sewer user fees are. The $40 per quarter fee comes in cheaper than the fees charged in Allegheny Township, Gilpin Township, Leechburg, and Vandergrift. 

Council Highlights 8/9/23
Among other things, council:

• Discussed income survey responses on 9th Street (this is for a grant application, if you live on 9th Street please make sure you return the survey!)
• Discussed delinquent real estate tax list from the county.
• Approved Ordinance 332 establishing a sewer user fee beginning in January 2024 (more information on this in the future).
• Discussed liens the borough has placed on properties where it was forced to mow grass.
• Approved Resolution 2 for a grant application.
• Approved Resolution 3 for technical assistance from Local Government Academy.
• Discussed burning permits.
• Discussed grant applications.

At the July, 2023 meeting, council (among other things):
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• Passed Ordinance 330 Prohibiting the deposit of leaves, grass, and other debris on/in catch basins, manholes, and ditches.
• Passed Ordinance 331 Requiring (primarily) all garbage be placed in cans or other contained structures.
• Voted to advertise an ordinance to establish a sewer user fee.
• Discussed grant money awarded to the borough by Westmoreland County for sewer line replacement.
• Discussed EMS funding needs and options.
• Approved stormwater management plans.
• Discussed grass cutting at overgrown properties.
• Discussed additional grant proposals.

 
Additional information will be provided in the near future in separate posts on the two ordinances that were passed.

Among other things, council:

• Discussed the 2023 seal coat project which should start tomorrow (6/15) after being delayed by weather.
• Approved advertising an ordinance to ban the discharge of grass and other yard waste into/onto borough catch basins, manholes, ditches.
• Approved advertising an ordinance to amend the nuisance ordinance to include regulations on garbage.
• Appointed Rob Yasczak to fill the vacancy on council.
• Approved payments for the accessibility project at the park/borough building.
• Discussed grant funding opportunities.
• Discussed Stormwater management plans for several locations.
• Reiterated that the borough does not maintain any Facebook groups, only a Facebook page.