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For more than 50 years West Easton has been billed for sewage based on total water consumption, and then evenly divided the sewage charge when billing residents.

It is divided equally among households, whether you used 4 units of water each quarter, or 400 units of water. Those who use 100 times more water are paying the same sewer bill, as those who conserve water. There’s no incentive for anyone to conserve water, in order to reduce their sewer bill, because it doesn’t matter how much you reduce your water usage.

As far as I know, West Easton is the only municipality in Northampton County that still uses this equally divided billing system.

The idea of changing the sewer billing system isn’t new.

It was first presented by then-Council President Dan DePaul, at the November 27, 2017 Council Meeting. In that meeting he had facts and figures showing the largest water users (33% of residents) would see an increase in their sewer bill, with 67% percent seeing no increase or paying less for sewer.

In an effort to  move things along and enact a change, it was handed off to the Utilities Committee. They were expected to crunch the numbers again and come back with a recommendation of rate changes.

I wrote about this back on November 30, 2017 so that residents wouldn’t be surprised.

And there it has sat for the last 4 years, with only one proposal to spend $7500 to have a study done, which would have only succeeded in wasting $7500, to have somebody else crunch the same numbers we already had. That study was never approved.

At the Council meeting last night I got on my soap box a bit to express my aggravation with the current sewage billing system.

I seem to hear much about the evils of “Socialism,” but apparently it’s only evil when others don’t pay their fair share and we contribute money to support them. For those who are on the receiving end of having to pay less than their fair share in West Easton, they don’t seem to have a problem with those who use less, paying more, to make up for their excesses.

There are homes in this borough renting out rooms and calling tenants “friends,” or “family.” They are collecting rent, while their “guests” take showers, flush toilets, do laundry, and use water, yet while their water usage far exceeds that of a normal household, their sewer bill is exactly the same as everyone else.

It’s time to get this matter out of Committee and a presentation made to Council on a fair sewer billing system in which people pay for what they use in water. Since the illegal discount given to senior citizens on their sewer/refuse bill will have to end, a pay-for-what-you-use system may seem more appealing in the end.