Developers or private individuals will pay $200 more to tap into the North Huntingdon Township Municipal Authority sanitary sewage treatment system effective July 7.

Authority directors last week adopted a $6.6 million fiscal year 2009 operating budget that included raising the fee from $2,500 to $2,700.

Developers who must use the Western Westmoreland Municipal Authority for treatment of sewage will pay an additional $1,500 capacity fee levied by that authority. Western Westmoreland's Brush Creek treatment plant services about half of the North Huntingdon customers.

"The tap-in fee is calculated each year based on a formula prescribed by the state and permits an authority to recover allowable costs that have been spent on capital expenditures," General Manager Kate Petrosky said.

"Our consulting engineer reviews the tap-in fee as part of the budget process to ensure that new customers tapping into the system are paying their fair share of prior system costs," board chairman Edward Shields added. "The allowable maximum tap-in fee for [North Huntingdon Township Municipal Authority] was $2,727."

In addition, the board ratified a $2 a month sewage fee increase, to $38.20 per quarter, for its 11,408 customers. It went into effect May 1 and will be reflected in the June billing.

Residential customers will pay an additional $24 per year for sewage service. Commercial customers will be billed $2 more per month for each 4,200 gallons of water used.

Operating expenses in the budget are projected to increase by 3.29 percent, in part because of routine cost-of-living adjustments for wages and benefits and higher costs for fuel.

The board also updated a $6.75 million capital improvement plan to continue upgrading its aging infrastructure, including projected expenses through fiscal year 2012.

Projects anticipated in fiscal year 2009 total $2.5 million and include replacing lines on portions of Niagara Drive and Five Pines Road in Penn's Woods, replacing media on the rotating bio discs and repairing the heat exchanger at the Youghiogheny River treatment plant in Turner Valley.

Additional projects include installation of a supervisory control and data acquisition system at the Yough plant and various pump stations, complying with an Allegheny County Sanitary Authority consent order and service agreement with Western Westmoreland in the Cavittsville area, and televising the Brush Creek collection system.