City and County Controllers Audit ALCOSAN

Allegheny County Controller Mark Flaherty and his counterpart in Pittsburgh, Michael Lamb, have announced a joint audit of the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority. ALCOSAN is under a consent decree that requires it to comply with new environmental standards. Upgrading the region's sewer system is expected to cost several billion dollars. The controllers say they want to ensure that the bidding process for contracts is fair. They also say they want to make sure that consumers are aware of how the project will affect their rates. ALCOSAN is not receiving any federal or state assistance for the project, and it's warned customers that their bills will jump in the future.

The controllers also say the cooperative efforts that helped ALCOSAN communities negotiate their consent decree supports the idea of more communities sharing services. The controllers would not say yet whether they support a proposed merger of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.