Nov. 6--Saltsburg Borough Council was able to hold off on raising taxes for yet another year, as it gave tentative approval to what President Elizabeth Rocco called a "bare bones" new budget.

Council voted Monday to advertise its proposed budget for 2010, which will hold the local property tax rate at 11.2 mills.

The 2010 budget projects $526,870 in revenues, and $506,245.44 in spending.

"We tried to be as fiscally sound as we could be and we want to stay that way," Rocco said. "Next year, we'll have to see what we can do about cutting costs."

The board expects to finalize the budget at its December meeting. In the meantime, it can be viewed by the public at the borough office Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

Though council is trying to keep future expenditures at a minimum, the borough is facing one very large project in the coming years, as the sewage treatment plant continues to show its age.

In the long run, Rocco said, the borough will need a new sewage treatment plant.

"It's going to be several years in the making," Rocco said of the anticipated project. "It's a very old plant, over 30 years old."

As a first step in acquiring funds to improve sewage treatment in the borough, council approved a resolution increasing sewage rates, as discussed at last month's meeting.

The resolution raises the minimum monthly sewage rate from $24 to $30. The usage rate was increased by 10 cents, from $2.65 to $2.75 per 1,000 gallons of usage.

These new rates will be effective as of January, but won't show up on consumers' bills until March.

Borough officials hope the rate increase will generate an additional $28,800 annually that can be used toward sewage plant improvements.

The borough has three options for addressing the aging plant -- to repair, rebuild, or outsource the borough's sewage services, Rocco said.

At Monday's meeting, Andy Blenko, of Blenko Engineering, and sewage plant manager Herb Pizer were authorized to begin seeking requests for proposals for a study of the plant in order to determine what option best fits the borough's needs and capabilities.

The firm the borough usually uses for its engineering issues, Gateway Engineers, had offered a study proposal for the plant for between $15,000 and $18,000, but Rocco said that figure far exceeds what the borough is able to pay for such a project.

By opening up the floor for bids, "We can accept other proposals, because we're talking public funds, and we don't have that kind of money (for the study) budgeted.