Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 4, 1994                   TAG: 9405040117
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY  
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                  LENGTH: Medium

PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITY NEAR CONTRACT WITH SANITATION BOARD

The contract, discussed publicly and in detail for the first time Monday, will cost the PSA about $2,000 more per month than the agreement it would replace, which has been in effect since 1975. That could mean a slight rate increase in the future for PSA customers, according to Gary Gibson, PSA utilities director.

The Montgomery PSA has its own sewage treatment operations in Elliston, Shawsville and Riner, and they are involved in this agreement. The PSA sends waste from about 350 commercial connections, including Warm Hearth Village and the Montgomery Farms subdivision, to the Blacksburg, VPI Sanitation Authority plant.

The PSA discussed the draft Monday with Bane Atkinson, a top sanitation authority official, and County Attorney Roy Thorpe.

The PSA could adopt the 62-page agreement, which has been under negotiation since the fall, later this spring. Gibson briefed the PSA board behind closed doors on concerns he has about the agreement, but didn't discuss them publicly.

The new contract would run until 2023 and would be comparable to contracts the sanitation authority has with Blacksburg and Virginia Tech to receive and treat their sewage at its plant off Prices Fork Road.

The increased cost - included in a 50 percent surcharge on the PSA's quarterly wastewater bill - would go toward making the county PSA pay its fair share of capital construction expenses, according to Atkinson. The sanitation authority is planning a $6.5 million addition to its plant.

But the increase would protect the PSA - a separate county political entity responsible for most public water and sewer service outside the two towns - from fee increases to pay for future expansions in sewage-treatment capacity, Thorpe said.

Instead, the PSA will see an immediate increase in cost that can be built into the rates charged to sewer users, he said.

The new contract also will increase the amount of sewage the PSA can send daily for treatment by 500,000 gallons, to 1.5 million. The bulk of the complicated legal document deals with stepped-up "industrial pre-treatment" rules mandated by state and federal environmental regulators.

In other business Monday, the PSA board agreed to spend $20,000 to buy an emergency generator later this year to prevent the water service interruptions many PSA customers experienced during February's power outages. The money will come from funds left over from the Elliston-Christiansburg water line project, if the federal Farmer's Home Administration will approve the purchase. If not, Gibson will bring generator prices back to the PSA board for consideration.

Memo: ***CORRECTION***