Most Greenville residents already know they will be seeing higher water bills beginning this month.

What they may not know is that sewer charges, which are a percentage of the water bill, are also going up.

Saying a rate hike to cover expenses was long overdue, Greenville Municipal Authority members increased water rates by 15 percent in January. The increase begins with the March billing.

Since the Greenville Sanitary Sewer Authority determines its rate for sewer service as 74.9 percent of the water charge, sewer bills will be going up, too.

Unless the sewer authority decreases its rate, Greenville property owners and some tenants will pay more for sewers.

The sewer authority meets quarterly and hasn’t yet discussed decreasing sewer rates, said Peter D. Nicoloff Jr., borough manager and sewer authority secretary.

The sewer authority will meet next in the last week of April, he said.

"We probably will revisit this at our April meeting," said Larry Franklin, sewer authority chairman. The authority will need to study how much of the revenue increase it will need to cover operating expenses, he said.

In November "when we did the budget, we expected an increase (in water rates), but a 3 or 4 percent increase" or about $26,000. Nicoloff said.

"We just didn’t expect them to raise (water) rates as high as they did," Franklin said. The sewer authority was

Nicoloff said he did not know if the sewer authority would keep rates as they are or lower them because of the water rate hike. "There always are increases in costs of chemicals, employees, and utilities," he said.

For the past five years, sewer funds have been used to keep the borough operating without a deficit and without asking for court permission to exceed property tax maximums. About $80,000 is budgeted to be transferred from the sewer fund to the general fund, the borough manager said.

However, a windfall from the water rate hike will be used for sewers and not to benefit the borough’s general funds, Nicoloff said.