In order to overcome a budget deficit of some $276,000, most residents and property owners in Emsworth can expect a sewer rate increase next year. How much of an increase, or how residents will be charged, though, has yet to be determined.

At a special meeting held Wednesday, Gateway Engineers presented a total of eight different rate options to Emsworth Council, each of which is projected to cover all sewer-related expenses for the next five years.

The borough currently charges a $50 flat rate per quarter for up to 10,000 gallons of water used, and $6 for every additional 1,000 gallons used. The charge covers the ALCOSAN sewage fees, with whatever is left over being used for borough sewer repairs and maintenance.

The problem, according to borough officials, is that ALCOSAN’S rates have increased, as have the costs of sewer-related repairs.

Both new options being considered by council separate the ALCOSAN fees from the local surcharge, which will allow future ALCOSAN increases to be billed directly to property owners.

One of the new options is based purely on the amount of water used by the building. That option would charge $4.35 per 1,000 gallons used, in addition to the ALCOSAN charges.

In this usage option, people who use approximately 15,000 gallons of water, which is an estimated 340 out of 920 Emsworth users, would see an increase of about 70 percent, or $224.84, next year. A family that uses 2,000 gallons of water, which accounts for about 112 users, would see nearly a 50 percent decrease in its bill, or about $97.16 per year less than what they pay now.

That option also would bring in some $10,000 more than the projected 2010 sewage expenses of $530.447.08. Council member Dave Heflin said that the additional revenue could be put towards emergency sewer repairs, for which the borough is budgeting some $50,000 for next year. Heflin noted that the borough easily could exceed that figure for emergency repairs.

The other option being considered would charge a flat rate of $30 per quarter as a surcharge, and $1.67 for every 1,000 gallons of water used, plus the ALCOSAN charges. This option also would charge a $30 fee for each of the units in a multiple-family dwelling. Currently, multi-family building owners are charged only a $50 flat rate for the whole building.

According to Ruthann Omer of Gateway, options that bill for individual units are becoming the norm in other municipalities.

In this option, none of the user groups would see a decrease in sewer charges. The 15,000-gallon group would see an increase of some 57 percent, or $184.04 next year. Those who use the least water would see an increase of .7 percent, or $1.40 next year.

Heflin said that he believed everybody should pay their fair share, and said that he did not want to give one user group a significant decrease, and increase the charges to another user group.

Resident Kevin Yurkovich favored the option based on usage. According to Yurkovich, his family of two uses less than 10,000 gallons of water per quarter, and he did not think it was fair to significantly increase fees for families that use so little water.

Yurkovich said he thought it would be fair to let individual families decide how much they would be charged by controlling how much water they used.

"The straight usage (option) is the way to go," Yurkovich said.

Resident Dan Lenz said that it was not fair that apartment buildings were now paying only one flat fee, and he favored a per-unit charge.

The sewer option decision is expected to be made at Emsworth Council's regular meeting on Nov. 11.