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WEIRTON - Operating at a projected loss of $244,000 for the current fiscal year and in danger of violating the terms of a previous bond agreement, the Weirton Sanitary Board is asking City Council to raise residents' sewer rates.

The board is seeking a minimum increase of $2.70 to each customer's flat monthly service charge, from $3 to $5.70; however, it is recommending a $3 increase in the service charge, to $6, as well as an additional 20 cents per 1,000 gallons of wastewater treated.

Weirton residents currently pay $2.95 per 1,000 gallons, so the new rate under that "worst-case" scenario, according to Utilities Director Butch Mastrantoni, would be $3.15 per 1,000 gallons.

Councilmen Ronnie Jones, Fred Marsh, George Ash and Max Fijewski met Wednesday for a work session to review the results of a recent audit, conducted by Griffith and Associates of Alum River, W.Va., upon which the rate increase recommendations were based.

Councilmen Harold "Bubba" Miller, David Dalrymple and George Kondik did not attend.

Sanitary board members also provided a list of planned projects for the next five years, which Assistant Director Kevin Board said will be necessary for day-to-day operations.

"They're not really much more than maintenance items," he said.

Fijewski asked whether those maintenance items could be paid for out of the board's normal repair and replacement fund. Mastrantoni said they could, but in addition to the projected cash shortfall, the board could run into another problem - members recently got notice that they're in violation of the terms of a bond agreement from 2008, when the sanitary board installed a new autoheated thermophilic aerobic digestion system to treat wastewater.

Under the terms of the bond, the sanitary board is required to hold 115 percent of its operating cost to ensure it doesn't fall into receivership. The most recent audit revealed the board was only operating at about 101 percent of its expenses.

Dan Guida, legal counsel for the board, said if council members do not approve a rate increase, one of two things could happen: bondholders could file a court action, which could lead to a judge deciding what the new rates will be, or the West Virginia Public Service Commission could step in and impose a rate increase.

"They might come back at an even higher rate than we are," said Guida.

Councilman George Ash questioned an entry in the report that provides for a projected 5 percent increase in operating costs.

"Is that for payroll and benefits?" he asked. "I'd like a breakdown of what it is."

A representative of Griffith and Associates, who spoke to council members via speakerphone, told Ash that the recommendations provide for an "across the board" 5 percent increase in operating costs, with no specific breakdown of where the increase in cost is expected to occur.