$17.7M Boyertown Water Plant Would Need Gradual Rate Hikes

A new water treatment plant for Boyertown is estimated to cost $17,663,437.50, a figure that includes a new Ironstone Pump Station, and the borough manager and engineer told a council committee that utility rates "will have to be increased incrementally" to pay for it, according to the Public Utilities Committee's Sept. 22 minutes (p. 2), now posted on the borough's Agenda Center. The figure is not new: the engineer presented it to the committee in July as the cost of building a new plant on Laurel Road. What is new is the financing, a state PennVEST loan whose terms trim the yearly payment, and a report that a state inspector considers a new or heavily upgraded plant "mandatory," relayed second-hand by the contractor that runs the system.

The $17.7 million figure and the loan behind it

Engineer Jason Newhard of SSM Group and Borough Manager Patricia Loder met with PennVEST about financing the plant. PennVEST, the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, is the state financing authority that provides low-cost financing for drinking water, sewer and stormwater projects. Newhard shared the financing questionnaire they filled out (p. 2).

For a plant costing $17,663,437.50, the minutes say the borough would qualify for a 1% interest rate for the first five years, rising to 1.743% for years six through 20. The minutes put the annual debt service under PennVEST financing at $1,028,399.67 and call that "a debt service savings of $289,797.16 annually." The minutes do not say what that savings is compared with. The committee's July 21 minutes had put annual debt service for the same option at $1,067,416 (p. 3), only $39,016 more by our arithmetic, so the $289,797.16 savings implies a comparison against roughly $1.32 million a year that appears in neither set of minutes.

Loder and Newhard told the committee that "utility rates will have to be increased incrementally to meet this need." The Sept. 22 minutes give no amount or schedule. In July, Newhard told the committee the borough "would need a $1,000,000.00 increase in water revenue and tapping fees could be increased" (July 21 minutes, p. 3). No rate increase has appeared on a posted council agenda; the Oct. 5 minutes are not posted.

One complication: some of the system's state environmental permits are issued to the Water Authority and some to the borough. PennVEST may require that all permits sit with the entity applying for the loan, so Newhard said "some legal work" may be needed. He and Loder are checking the requirements.

What the July study laid out

The committee's July 21 minutes record Newhard's full Water Treatment Plant Capital Study (pp. 2-3). The current plant was built in the 1970s, is permitted to produce 2,000,000 gallons a day but in practice makes closer to 1,200,000, and has "various regulatory issues"; the Ironstone Creek source cannot be used because the Ironstone Pump Station is inoperable; and DEP, the state Department of Environmental Protection, had noted the plant "needs upgrades to meet operating standards, conditions for which they will not be able to continue to show indefinite leniency with no corrective action by the Borough." Every option starts with a new Ironstone Pump Station at $1,237,500. Alternate 1, upgrading the existing plant, was estimated at $3,545,625 but would not raise capacity or fix the compliance problems. Alternate 2, an upgrade plus an addition, was $15,186,375. Alternate 3, a new plant on Laurel Road between Powder Mill Hollow and Pine roads modeled on Kutztown's 2004 plant, was $18,134,375 with one piping route or $17,663,437.50 with the other. Newhard called the $17.66 million option the best, with 18 months of engineering, construction through 2029 and completion in 2030, and said he expected a decision by the end of the year (p. 3).

Inspector's warning, relayed by the operator

Ralph Schoenly of Inframark, the contractor that runs the borough's water and sewer system, reported that the Ironstone Pump Station is back online, "which will further help the HAA5 situation" (minutes, p. 1). HAA5 refers to five haloacetic acids, byproducts that form when disinfectants react with natural material in water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limits them in drinking water because long-term exposure above its standard may raise health risks. The Sept. 22 minutes do not give Boyertown's HAA5 readings; the July 21 minutes describe "an ongoing issue with consistently keeping the HAA5's at acceptable level" (p. 2).

Schoenly said DEP recently inspected the pump station and is satisfied with it for now, but "made it clear that permanent improvements will be mandatory." The inspector also asked whether a new or majorly upgraded water treatment plant was being considered and "advised that those improvements will be deemed mandatory as well" (p. 1).

Inframark's budget rises, but rates hold for now

Schoenly presented Inframark's 2026-2027 operating budget of $1,958,850.27, up $109,334.92 from the previous year. Loder said the borough should have enough utility revenue to cover the increase "without raising the customer utility rates" (p. 1). That budget went to council's Oct. 5 agenda as Contract Year #32, as we reported in our Oct. 5 preview.

Paving done, a grass-clippings rule, and ADA ramps

The Public Works Committee, meeting the same night, heard that the 2026 paving of East Fifth, East Sixth and Shaner streets is complete at a contract price of $223,558, with a few punch-list items left before final payment, according to its Sept. 22 minutes (p. 1). The curb and curb-ramp project on the same streets is finished and Drumheller Construction has been paid in full. The Oct. 5 council agenda carried a change order cutting H&K Group's 2026 Street Projects contract by $47,095.96 to $176,462.04, which is $223,558 minus the reduction; the committee minutes do not name the paving contractor.

Committee Chairman Thomas McHugh raised grass clippings blown into borough streets. According to the Public Works minutes, Loder recalled Police Chief Barry Leatherman telling the Police and Public Safety Committee that no section of the state Vehicle Code easily covers it, so the Eastern Berks Regional Police would need a borough ordinance to enforce it (p. 1). That committee's own Sept. 2 minutes record Leatherman, answering resident Robert Wynings, citing Section 6501 of the state Crimes Code, which covers refuse in the street but "does not specifically list grass clippings" (p. 2). The Public Works Committee agreed to ask council to have Solicitor Chris Hartman, named in the Sept. 8 council minutes, draft an ordinance modeled on the borough's rule against shoveling snow into the street, enforced by both the regional police and LTL Consultants, with a warning for a first offense (pp. 1-2); in the Sept. 2 minutes, Loder is recorded saying LTL "enforces property conditions, not street conditions" (p. 2). The minutes said a motion authorizing the solicitor to prepare the ordinance would go on the Oct. 5 council agenda; that agenda listed only a "Discussion Concerning adoption of an ordinance," with no motion. The item was still a discussion under unfinished business on the committee's Oct. 20 agenda.

On the 2027 street project, Newhard said SSM is not confident new curb ramps on Rhoads Avenue can meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards because of grade and width. He said most existing ramps there are in very good condition, recommended leaving them, and offered to file paperwork with PennDOT stating that new ADA ramps would be "technically infeasible" (p. 2).

What happens next

The committee minutes laid out two steps: a motion to authorize SSM to proceed with preparing plans for a new plant on council's Oct. 5 agenda, then a motion to approve SSM's engineering, design, permitting and financing plans on Nov. 2 (p. 2). Whether council took the first step on Oct. 5 is not in the written record. The borough has not posted the Oct. 5 minutes, and the Oct. 5 agenda listed only a motion to request a cost proposal from SSM. The Public Utilities Committee's Oct. 20 agenda called for a review of that cost proposal, with no amount listed; minutes from that meeting are not yet posted.

Council meets Monday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. in the Council Room at Borough Hall, 100 S. Washington St. The Nov. 2 agenda had not been posted as of Oct. 24. The Oct. 5 agenda asked council to advertise a Nov. 2 hearing on a joint zoning amendment and an adoption vote on Ordinance No. 04-2026, described in our Oct. 5 preview; whether council did so is not in the posted record. Residents can speak at the start of the meeting on agenda items and again at the end on any subject, per the Oct. 5 agenda. For council's most recent recorded votes, see our Sept. 8 recap.

Sources and contact

• Boyertown Public Utilities Committee minutes, Sept. 22, 2026
• Boyertown Public Works Committee minutes, Sept. 22, 2026
• Boyertown Public Utilities Committee minutes, July 21, 2026 (capital study)
• Boyertown Police and Public Safety Committee minutes, Sept. 2, 2026
• Boyertown Borough Council minutes, Sept. 8, 2026
• Boyertown Public Utilities Committee agenda, Oct. 20, 2026
• Boyertown Borough Council agenda, Oct. 5, 2026
• Boyertown Borough Agenda Center
• PENNVEST
• EPA disinfection byproducts rules

Borough of Boyertown, 100 S. Washington St., Boyertown, PA 19512; 610-369-3028. Council President Frank J. Deery; Public Utilities Committee Chairman Keith Endy; Public Works Committee Chairman Thomas McHugh. Both committees met with Endy, McHugh, Jarid Miller and Deery present, plus council member Kristina Rhodes.

For what a borough council controls compared with the county and the state, see our guide to how Berks County government works.