Septic System Inspection

Flat fee weighed for septic owners

The 34,000 Clark County residents with septic systems may no longer have to pay county inspection and tipping fees.

Instead, the county may tack a $21 flat fee onto property taxes for all landowners with septic systems.

The Clark County commissioners, serving in their role as the board of health, have been discussing changes to numerous environmental public health fees for several months.

But at their meeting Wednesday morning, the discussion centered around a proposal concerning tipping fees and electronic reporting fees.

Tipping fees are charged based on the amount of liquid pumped from a septic system. Systems are typically pumped every three to five years.

Electronic reporting fees are charged every time an inspection is completed. Depending on the type of septic system, inspections are required every one, two or three years.

Revenue from septic fees are used to operate the county’s operation and maintenance program. In addition to supporting the annual inspections, the program offers advice and guidance to residents who need to repair their systems, said John Wiesman, Clark County Public Health director.

The commissioners held a public hearing Wednesday and were set to vote on a proposal that would increase the tipping fee from 6 cents per gallon to 11 cents a gallon and increase the reporting fee from $20 to $28.

But during the meeting, public health staff provided the commissioners with an alternative proposal. That proposal would eliminate the two fees and impose a flat $21 fee on property taxes.

The alternative proposal was drafted after the county’s septic system advisory committee raised concerns about the original proposal.

The county asks for voluntary compliance with the inspection schedule. The advisory committee worried if the fee went up, people might not have the inspections done, Wiesman said. The compliance rate is usually about 60 percent, he said.

In addition, committee members worried some companies were tipping systems that didn’t need it or were cheating the system by not accurately reporting how much liquid was pumped, Wiesman said.

The new proposal, however, would address those concerns. The flat-fee proposal would also cost homeowners less, on average, than the original proposal.

Currently, residents with conventional systems pay about $15.83 a year for inspections and tipping. The original proposal would cost homeowners about $28.66, according to estimations provided by the health department.

Inspections find eight failing septic systems - Evening Sun

The septic-system inspections being required for many West Manheim Township homes are turning up a small percentage of failing systems or problems that need repaired, officials said.

At a meeting July 19, Township Manager Kevin Null said that 285 private, on-lot septic systems have been inspected and certified within the past few months. Of those, 30 systems needed repairs, he said, with the most common repair being the replacement of a baffle or something else minor.

Eight systems were found to be failing and needed to be replaced entirely at the homeowners' expense, Null said. The replacement systems have all been installed and are working properly, he said.

The inspections and certifications now being carried out are at the requirement of township supervisors, who hope to persuade the state Department of Environmental Protection from forcing further public-sewer extensions to areas of the township that might not need them at this time. After the initial certification is completed, each property will then need to have the inspection and certification done again every four years.

"In general the inspections and certifications of on-lot systems are moving along pretty good," Null said. "Everything that hasn't been pumped within the last four years will be inspected and certified within a year."

There are a total of 1,321 on-lot systems within the township, Null said. And there are about 260 systems that need to be inspected and certified by May 2013.

Although West Manheim had an on-lot septic system ordinance in place prior to last year, it was not regularly enforced and had much lower penalties for violations.

Last fall the township supervisors adopted a revamped ordinance requiring that all on-lot septic tanks be pumped, inspected, and certified every four years.

The new ordinance also greatly increased fines for violations, with a $1,000 fine for the first violation. Property owners not adhering to the new regulations will compile a second violation after 45 days, which would add another $1,000 fine.

The ordinance requires that all on-lot septic systems be pumped out, inspected and certified - regardless of when the last pumping had occurred at that property. Additionally, the sewage enforcement officer is required to be on-site during the pumping. The entire expense of pumping and inspection is borne by the property owner.

Site characterization and design of on-site septic systems

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Training manual for septic system inspectors, Title 5, standard requirements for the siting, construction, inspection, upgrade and expansion of on-site sewage treatment and disposal systems and for the transport and disposal of septage