Etna holds the line on real estate taxes but sewage and garbage fees increase

Etna’s preliminary 2023 budget of $5.9 million holds the line on real estate taxes, however, the town’s sewage and garbage fees are going up.

An average home assessed at $82,000 currently pays $738 for borough real estate taxes.

The borough is passing on rate hikes from ALCOSAN to increase sewage fees by 7% and Waste Management to hike garbage collection fees by about 31%, according to borough officials.

For sewage, the base fee for one month is $10.92 and usage is calculated by water used at $14.67 per thousand gallons for sewage. For the average household that uses 5,000 gallons a month, in 2022 they paid a total of $84.27 per month. In 2023, with a proposed 7% increase in the usage fee, that same household will pay about $89.42 a month.

The current garbage fee is set at $21.42 per month and will increase to $28.01 in 2023.

In the last decade, the borough has only raised local real estate taxes once and that was in 2019 when real estate taxes increased from 8.25 mills to 9 mills, which is the current rate, according to council chairman Dave Becki.

“Like everyone, our budget is tight because the cost of everything has gone up and fuel is tied to so much of that,” he said. “We’re doing our best to keep expenditures reasonable so we didn’t have to raise taxes. We will be keeping a close eye on our money this year.”

Council is expected to pass the final 2023 budget during their Dec. 20 meeting at 7:30 p.m. The budget can be viewed online on Etna’s website, etnaborough.org.