Dear Editor:

I have been attending meetings of various municipalities for years as well as having served as a councilman and received the same message over the years from township and borough engineers whenever the subject of working on the infrastructure of various communities occurred. The message in some of these places is quite simple and one I find disturbing. "PENNVEST will not loan us money until we raise our rates to a point they accept as suitable." As a borough leader and later attendee of municipal meetings, I find that statement to personally be infuriating and let me explain why.In my opinion and this is just my opinion, our leaders do their best to keep things affordable. Long past are the days especially in the coal regions where the coal company was willing to spend the money to take care of towns or even just pay the taxes that we used to originally take care of these infrastructures. All of these towns are struggling to keep their heads above water as well. They realize their residents are fighting the same struggle as well and many have done what they could to keep their rates controlled so that people can afford the basic necessities (ie. water, sewage, garbage collection). Not all of them are created equal either. Some communities bills are larger than others, and it may not seem fair but that is life. Over the years though, all of these places have periodically raised rates to stay ahead of the game so that they continue to be solvent and can make some basic infrastructure repairs.Now many of these systems are becoming old and antiquated, so these same communities have discussed how to replace and repair the areas that need it. They realize that their rates need to rise a bit to handle these repairs. Many seek loans to do this work. The problem I have with PENNVEST is they provide low interest loans just like a bank, and I don't believe it should be any of their business what rates consumers are being charged. Their concern should be, "Can this municipality afford to repay the loan they are requesting?" Just because one community has been functioning with lower rates than others should not be justification for raising rates just to qualify for their loan. Their loans should simply be made on can the municipality afford it and if not, can they raise their rates to afford it.In my opinion, it is extortion for that organization to say, "We will not consider loaning you money until your rates are X number of dollars because you are not charging your customers enough." Instead I think they should be saying, "This loan will cost you X number of dollars and you need to show us that you can afford to pay this." What's even worse is not being able to receive grants because you are not charging enough. All I hear is a grant is "free money". Why should your utility rates even come into consideration in that situation? Our lawmakers throw this money around like candy, and if they are giving it away, it's none of their business and should not be a consideration what municipalities charge as a criterion for granting such moneys.Just my two cents.DAVID WARGOSummit Hill