An uprising by a Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, town's residents who are unhappy about the privatization of their town's sewer system moved into uncharted territory this month with the creation of a panel to rewrite the town's governing charter to block the sale of the town's wastewater utility.
The Towamencin Township Government Study Commission, which was created after 61% of voters approved it in November, wants to draft a home rule charter to make it illegal to transfer the town's sewer system to a private buyer. The hope is to get the proposal to voters in May. If approved, it would create an immediate impediment to the sale of public utility assets in the township of 18,000 people bordering Lansdale.
The potential change to Towamencin's local government constitution is perhaps the most dramatic step that opponents in the Philadelphia suburbs have taken to impede the sale of publicly owned utilities, which have ramped up since the passage of a 2016 state law, known as Act 12. The law was designed to encourage the consolidation of public water and wastewater utilities under private ownership. It has sparked bidding wars for municipal utilities, and also pushback from customers whose rates have increased dramatically, partly to compensate buyers for the high acquisition prices.
