Butler Eagle file photo

Supervisors of Center and Summit townships will vote on whether to object to the pending $231.5 million sale of Butler Area Sewer Authority to Pennsylvania American Water Company.

Their consent would authorize the municipalities’ solicitors to file objections to the sale with the Public Utility Commission over the potential financial burden the sale could create. The sale is awaiting the commission’s approval.

Center Township Supervisor Don Pringle said the sale disregards the financial strain on BASA customers in municipalities that will not receive a share of the money from the sale.

Profit from the sale would be divided only between Butler and Butler Township.

“BASA is placing a huge financial burden on its customers in Center Township, East Butler borough, Summit Township and parts of Connoquenessing, Oakland and Penn townships who will bear the brunt of the sale without any representation in the process,” Pringle said Tuesday.

Butler and Butler Township officials agreed in late 2022 to sell BASA to the water company.

In a joint statement Tuesday, Center and Summit townships said Pennsylvania American Water would assume responsibility for $75 million in improvements to BASA, mandated by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.

“All customers, including those in the City of Butler and Butler Township, could get hit with higher rates to ultimately pay for the $231.5 million for the (Pennsylvania American Water Company) purchase, on top of the $75 million in DEP-mandated upgrades which are coming,” Pringle said. “That’s a total of $306.5 million that customers would end up covering.”

The municipalities also expressed concern over having to pay for potential road and infrastructure upgrades from the required improvements.

Michael Gallagher, solicitor for Summit and Center townships, said their objection to the sale could lead to action unfolding in court.

“The PUC will take that into account; it may have a hearing and they will find the facts of the case and from there a decision will be made,” Gallagher said. “It's different than public comment, the objection would go through a court process.”

Pringle said BASA’s board includes no representation outside of Butler and Butler Township, and that effects on surrounding municipalities should have been considered.

“Our communities do not stand to receive one penny from this planned sale, and yet we would subsidize the operations of a publicly traded, private company through rate increases and years of hardship,” he said Tuesday. “We’re disappointed in the BASA board for selling us out. Those moneys won’t lower one sewage bill.”