When the DuBoistown storm water program started in 2020, the fees collected were supposed to go for the Chesapeake Bay clean-up for contamination and pollution. Now I find out that the money stays in the borough to maintain stormwater systems in the borough — not one penny goes to the Chesapeake Bay. We were also told Armstrong Township, Susquehanna Township, Nisbet, Loyalsock Township, Montoursville and Williamsport would all be involved by 2024. If this money is for the underground maintenance and repair of the stormwater system, Nisbet and Mosquito Valley will never be involved in this because they do not have a stormwater system.

After checking with Williamsport, Loyalsock Township and Montoursville to see how they structured their fees for the stormwater program, Loyalsock Township takes care of it through their property tax and in Williamsport all residential property owners pay a flat fee of $10.

My stormwater fee for my DuBoistown residence is $67.50 a month. With the program started officials told the DuBoistown Borough Council pretty much everybody would pay a $15 fee. $67.50 for people on Social Security is way out of line, when your cost of living raise is 2.5 percent, which does not even cover a quarter of this charge.

Within the next three years, I am willing to bet the stormwater fees are going to double, and without a doubt an increase in the sanitary sewer system also.

When this started back in 2020, the Lycoming County Water and Sewer Authority pushed this program onto the DuBoistown council members and said if they didn’t participate in this program, there would be huge consequences. A decision of this magnitude should have been looked at a lot closer, and presented to the people to be voted on. When I received my assessment I asked where I could get a second opinion and was told, “that was a good question.”

This is a windfall for the county authority and the borough, and a nightmare for the people of DuBoistown, especially for people on a fixed income. All residential property owners in DuBoistown should be paying the same amount.

Our first five years is up Dec. 31, and this program is way out of hand the way it stands right now. Every city, borough and township has a different fee structure and the highest fee structures are the ones connected to the county authority’s program. The sad part of this situation is that we did not have to get into this program at all, as we did not have enough people in the borough — less than 1,500 people. We need to get out from under the county authority and explore other avenues, before we sign up for another five years and this turns into a mortgage payment.

FRED MARZZACCO

DuBoistown

Submitted in person