sewers laterals (Penn: home, inspection, taxes)

[gotadollar1]

I own a home in duryea. My sewer lateral is broken in the middle of rt.11. The sewer board says it is my respocibility to fix it. I think I dont have to pay for it. Igot some estimates. Itwill cost 18000 to 30000 dollars. who has that kind of money? Ithout thats what we paid sewer bills and taxes for.

[ki0eh]

Rules definitely vary, the most typical case is for the point of transition of ownership of a sewer lateral to be at the public right of way line, although if the sewer line is on the other side of the road and not in the road right of way it may be that right of way line for the sewer main not the road that governs the point of transition.

In any case it would be an unusually mean municipal authority that would stick the property owner with repairing a lateral in a state road. The utility deals with PENNDOT all the time and has equipment not you, this situation sounds like it requires a bit of push back to me.

You should get a copy of both the authority's rules and regulations, and the municipality's sewer use ordinance, to see what those say.

Are you among a group of property owners similarly situated, for instance did the sewer authority send cameras in the sewers with tiny side robotic cameras up the laterals for inspection and then send out hundreds of notices?

It would be worth going to the sewer authority and municipal board meetings to offer comment. Be polite, and if there are terms in the rules and regulations and/or the ordinance that could be construed in your favor ask if those can apply.

Try honey and not vinegar first, especially if yours is an extreme case it's possible a board of (most likely volunteer) citizens might change a staff interpretation.