Cassidy v. Old Lycoming Township

69 Pa. D. & C.2d 576, 1974 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 256
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lycoming County
DecidedMay 8, 1974
Docketno. 72-1203
StatusPublished

This text of 69 Pa. D. & C.2d 576 (Cassidy v. Old Lycoming Township) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lycoming County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cassidy v. Old Lycoming Township, 69 Pa. D. & C.2d 576, 1974 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 256 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1974).

Opinion

GREEVY, P. J.,

This action is on plaintiffs’ complaint seeking to have the court declare the increased sewer rents imposed on plaintiffs to be illegal and to require the township to charge plaintiffs the same rate as the users of the Williamsport Sanitary Authority.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiffs, Daniel K. and Betty N. Cassidy, and Ronald C. and Patricia L. Lentz, reside in the “Lundy Park” section of Old Lycoming Township.

2. Plaintiffs, Benjamin J. and Betty K. Stadt, reside on Round Hill Road in Old Lycoming Township.

3. The action was brought by plaintiffs on their own behalf and on behalf of all residents of the area in Old Lycoming Township designated as “Lundy Park” and “Round Hill Road.”

4. Defendant, Old Lycoming Township, is a second class township.

5. Prior to January 1, 1972, plaintiffs were serviced by the Williamsport Sanitary Authority and were charged the same rates as the Williamsport city customers. This was done pursuant to an agreement entered into between defendant and the Williamsport Sanitary Authority on August 18, 1964.

6. By 1970, the Supervisors of Old Lycoming Township had decided that the township should have its own sewerage system. A number of ordinances were enacted on November 16, 1970. Ordinance no. 56 established the sewer rental rates to be charged and referred to the area to be served as the “Garden View Area.”

[578]*5787. On either November 5th or 6th, 1970, Cassidy called Dale L. Metzger, township secretary, inquiring as to whether Lundy Park was to be included in the new sewer project and be subject to the new rates.

8. Metzger conferred by telephone about this with Robert L. Hinaman, chairman of the supervisors, and Metzger then sent a letter dated November 6, 1970, to Cassidy stating, that Lundy Park would not be charged the new rates and would continue to be billed as usual.

9. On October 4, 19=71, defendant and Williamsport Sanitary Authority entered into an agreement whereby certain township residents would continue on the Williamsport system..

10. Plaintiffs were billed the new rates as of January lr 1972. On July 10\ 1972, ordinance no. 56 was re-enacted to include but not be limited to the Round Hills areas, Lundy Park areas, and all other areas connected to the Old Lycoming Township sewer system which lie north of the city (of Williamsport) limits or are shown in the United States Census as being part of the Garden View Area of Old Lycoming Township.

11. Defendant, by ordinance, created the Old Lyeoming Township Authority. The authority had the system constructed and leases the system to defendant. The authority assessed customers which received a new lateral hookup by the front footage method. The rental payment to be paid by defendant is designed to cover the cost of amortizing the bonds issued by the authority to cover the costs, of construction.

12. Defendant charges a tap-on fee to customers which received a new lateral hook-up. The sewage rates charged to all customers is designed to meet [579]*579operating expenses, amortization costs and a ten-percent margin of safety.

13. The new rates charged to plaintiffs are substantially higher than the rate they were paying to the Williamsport Sanitary Authority.

14. Plaintiffs have received substantial benefits by the new sewer system.

DISCUSSION

The original ordinance no. 56 defined the area to be included in the new system as the “Garden View Area,” There was conflicting testimony as to what sections of Old Lycoming Township are included in this area. After this action was instituted, but prior to the first hearing, the ordinance was re-enacted and specifically stated what areas were to be included in the sewer district. The supervisors have the power to cure such an ambiguity, if such exists, by this re-enactment.

“. . . Legislative bodies have this authority; and the action of the board of supervisors would be proper to cure an irregularity or want of authority. City of Chester v. Black, 132 Pa. 568 (1890). In this case, the Supreme Court said, at page 571, ‘The principle has been repeatedly recognized in this state that, where the legislature has antecedent power to authorize a tax, it can cure, by a retroactive law, an irregularity or want of authority in levying it, though thereby a right of action which had been vested in an individual should be divested:’” Hinaman et al. v. Vandergrift, 197 Pa. Superior Ct. 140, 144 (1962).

In light, of this power we find it unnecessary to decide whether plaintiffs are within the “Garden View Area.”

[580]*580Plaintiffs contend that they are third-party beneficiaries of the August 18, 1964, agreement between defendant and Williamsport Sanitary Authority. It is asserted the agreement is intended to be for their direct benefit. Plaintiffs rely on the following statement in 4 Corbin on Contracts, 83, §782: “Contracts made by municipalities for the benefit of their inhabitants have been held enforceable at the suit of one or more of such inhabitants in a good many cases. These are cases of a promise to render some specific service to the beneficiaries, to charge no more than specified rates, to pay damages caused to individuals by the construction of a public improvement.” However, the cases cited therein concern suits against the party who has contracted to supply the service. In the instant action we are concerned with an action against a municipality that has terminated an agreement with the supplier of a service. In Brandywine Homes v. Cain Twp. Mun. Auth., 56 D. 8c C. 2d 437, 20 Chester 100 (1971), the City of Coatesville owned the sewer lines in the township and, following the incorporation of the authority, the system was conveyed to the authority. The authority proceeded with plans to expand the system throughout the township. The basis of plaintiffs’ complaint was similar as here — they were already being adequately served at a cost greatly lower than the new rates and existing users of the system should not be saddled with the cost of expansion which they neither need nor desire. The court held that decisions concerning sewer construction and rentals were a legislative decision and that the township commissioners’ exercise of discretion in matters of local public health cannot be disturbed unless the exercise of power was attended by fraud, [581]*581official misconduct or arbitrary and capricious abuse of power or discretion. See also Butterworth et al. v. Upper Moreland-Hatboro Joint Sewer Authority, 73 Montg. 286 (1956).

We find that whether or not Old Lycoming Township should have its own sewage system or remain on the Williamsport System is a legislative decision. Plaintiffs have not shown any fraud, official misconduct or abuse of this discretion by the township supervisors.

Plaintiffs also are attacking the rates charged by defendant. Defendant and the Old Lycoming Township Authority have the power to finance sewer line construction through the methods employed: Whitemarsh Township Authority v. Elwert, 413 Pa. 329 (1964); Turley et al. v. N. Huntingdon T.M. Auth. et al., 5 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 116 (1972). Defendant has based its sewer rental rates under the authority granted in the Act of July 18, 1935, P.L. 1286, secs. 1 and 2, as amended, 53 PS §§2231 and 2232. Section 1 provides for the rentals for use of the sewage system and section 2 provides for the amount of rental charge.

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Related

Whitemarsh Township Authority v. Elwert
196 A.2d 843 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1964)
HINAMAN v. Vandergrift
177 A.2d 174 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1962)
Breinig v. Allegheny County
2 A.2d 842 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1938)
City of Chester v. Black
19 A. 276 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1890)
Blumenschein v. Pittsburgh Housing Authority
109 A.2d 331 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1954)
Turley v. North Huntingdon Township Municipal Authority
289 A.2d 509 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1972)
Glen Riddle Park, Inc. v. Middletown Township
314 A.2d 524 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
69 Pa. D. & C.2d 576, 1974 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 256, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cassidy-v-old-lycoming-township-pactcompllycomi-1974.