ALCOSAN Will Spend $2 Billion to Meet Sewer/Stormwater Mandates

Forest Hills Mayor Marty O’Malley warned residents at Wednesday's borough council meeting that ALCOSAN will spend $2 billion in the next few years to meet federally mandated rules designed to deal with storm runoff and sewer processing that must be met by 2026.

O’Malley said ALCOSAN has no plans to share the money with the Allegheny County communities it serves. He said the money will be used to update 1940s technology and said he is a part of a group of elected officials that will ask ALCOSAN to re-evaluate its plans to include better technology.

“The whole concept is they want to stay with 1940s technology,” O’Malley said. “We’re going to point out that there is a significant advantage to ALCOSAN to share.”

The group will “point it out” at an Oct. 19, hearing.

In other council business:

• Taxes collected this year total $2.36 million, which is about 96 percent of the projected $2.475 million that should be collected.
• Police Chief Charles Williams warned residents that an individual or two are looking for unlocked cars and stealing whatever they could find inside them. “I’ll ask again. Please lock your cars up,’ he said.
• Forest Hills residents may see a water-rate increase because Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority lost two major customers when Plum and Monroeville decided to go with another supplier.
• Bills for the month of August totaled $248,278. They break down as: $209,689 for the general fund budget, $34,822 for the corrective action budget, $3,655 for liquid fuels and $1,112 for road improvement
• Council voted to approve the Minimum Municipal Obligation (MMO) of the police pension fund as suggested by Mockenhaupt Benefits Group to $232,730 in 2013, and to the non-uniform funds of $86,549. The 2012 MMO estimate is $194,209 and $55,433, respectively.