Gas drilling payments to towns reviewed
Gas drilling impact fee payments to several Northeast Pennsylvania municipalities will more than double and many others will slightly shrink after the state Public Utility Commission reviewed and recalculated the amount owed to local governments.
The agency discovered an error in its formula for calculating payments based on a town's proximity to gas wells after some communities questioned the amounts announced in mid-October, the PUC said.
The revised numbers, posted last week, will not change the amount slated for most of the state's municipalities, including all of those in Lackawanna County. But nine Wyoming and Susquehanna county townships and boroughs will see their payment double or more from what they first expected and 45 will receive hundreds or thousands of dollars less.
Susquehanna Depot will see the area's largest increase - from $34,555 to $69,109.
Forest Lake Twp., which faces the area's largest reduction of $12,630, remains one of the largest beneficiaries of the impact fee in the region. It will still receive $438,813.
Williamsport in Lycoming County will receive the largest increase in the state after the adjustments - $300,000 more than was originally calculated.
The adjustments will not make a major difference in the total portion of the funds dedicated to local communities. Of the $204 million dollars paid by shale gas drilling companies into the impact fee fund, roughly $112 million will go directly to municipalities and counties - about $105,000 more than originally anticipated.
Contact the writer: llegere@timesshamrock.com