Sewer Rates Going Up; Director Of Newtown Authority Explains Why

NEWTOWN, PA — Customers of the Newtown, Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority will be paying 20 percent more this year to flush their toilets.

In addressing the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors, executive director Warren Gormley said the authority is passing along to its customers a 16.6 percent rate increase by Bucks County Water & Sewer (BCWSA) to pay for an upgrade to its Neshaminy Interceptor, the main trunk line that carries flows from Bucks to the treatment center in Philadelphia.

That increase is the first of a planned three phase rate increase being passed along by BCWSA to the 13 municipalities that use the interceptor.

The balance of the rate hike will pay for increasing fixed costs, said Gormley. The last sewer increase in Newtown was in 2020, which represented a pass through increase from BCWSA.

“If you’re a customer of the Newtown Sewer Authority you were paying $68 per quarter. You’re now going to pay $82 per quarter,” said Gormley. “If you’re a customer of Lower Makefield, which is Aqua owned, you’re going to pay $204 per quarter. That is Aqua owned Lower Makefield. If you’re a resident of Northampton you’re paying $135.45 per quarter.”

Supervisor John Mack asked Gormley, “We opposed the sale of Bucks County to Aqua because you told us the rates would increase significantly. Did we make a mistake in doing that?”

Gormley said there would have been an increase either way, but projections were that the increase would have been much greater if Aqua had purchased the system.

if Aqua has purchased BCWSA for a proposed $1.1 billion, the rate increase could have been three times higher, he said.

“If Aqua has purchased Bucks you would have seen rates increase by 50 to 75 percent only because of all the repairs that would have to be done on all the systems downstream,” Gormley told the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors earlier this month.