Greenville Water Authority customers can expect a rate hike of 3 percent in 2010 and again in 2011.

Rising operating costs, higher bond payments and increases of employee health care and benefits are behind the proposed rate increase, authority board members said Wednesday.

Also, the authority doesn’t expect its customer base to grow enough in the coming years to significantly increase revenues, authority Superintendent William Brady said.

He presented the 2010 proposed budget of about $1.4 million, which will be approved by the board with the new rates at their Dec. 16 meeting.

’I feel pretty strong about it,’ he said of the spending plan.

Revenues have been down by about 5 to 6 percent because customers are conserving more water, Brady said.

Health care and benefits costs for authority employees will go up about 9.9 percent and bond payments for the water treatment plant will jump from $50,000 to $160,000 a year in 2010.

Capital expenses are estimated at $431,250 and include an ionization study of the plant that will help authority crews better treat certain bacteria, Brady said.

The study isn’t required now but will be mandated by the state in 2014, said Thomas L. Thompson of Gannett Fleming Inc., Mercer, the authority’s engineer.

The authority serves about 2,900 customers in Greenville in Hempfield Township, with large consumers currently paying $2.76 per thousand gallons and those using less than 8,000 gallons a month paying $5.26 per thousand gallons.

Brady said he’ll have examples in December of how much customers can expect to pay with the new rates. Water rates last went up in September 2006 by 5 percent.

Sewer rates in Greenville are also expected to go up by 3 percent since sewage and water are billed together, Greenville Sanitary Authority board members said in October.

Water authority board members also decided not to consider using well water as a source at this time. Moody and Associates, Inc., Meadville, did a study to see if the authority could drill wells to use ground water as part of the treatment plant’s supply, in addition to the Shenango River.

Moody recently submitted a report, which showed installing five wells would cost about $6,980,700.

Board members agreed it would be too expensive but the study is good information to have on hand for future reference.