Monroe County Septic Permits (2026): Who Issues Them

There is no such thing as a Monroe County septic permit. Monroe has no county health department and no county sewage agency, so under Act 537 the permit is issued by your township or borough, and all 20 municipalities here run their own programme with their own or a shared sewage enforcement officer. That is not a technicality. A new-system application costs $400 in Barrett Township and $790 in Price Township, and a septic tank must be pumped every three years in Smithfield, every four in Pocono and every five in parts of Coolbaugh. This page tells you which layer holds the rule and how to find yours. It does not tell you what all twenty ordinances say, because no honest page can.

Who Issues Septic Permits in Monroe County?

Your municipality does, through a certified sewage enforcement officer it employs or contracts. Pennsylvania’s Sewage Facilities Act puts on-lot permitting with municipalities and joint local agencies, and Monroe has neither a county health department nor a county-wide sewage agency to consolidate them.

The jurisdictional limit is written into the state rule and echoed in the municipal codes. Under 25 Pa. Code section 72.41(b) a sewage enforcement officer may issue permits only within the jurisdiction of the local agency employing them. Chestnuthill Township’s code repeats it almost word for word: the officer shall issue permits only within the jurisdiction of Chestnuthill Township in which he is employed, and may issue elsewhere only on the written approval of that other local agency. Coolbaugh’s ordinance says the same of its own officer. An SEO who worked on your neighbour’s lot in the next township cannot simply carry on across the line.

The county’s own summary of the position, in the planning commission’s 2025 annual report, is that all 20 municipalities have their own zoning and subdivision and land development ordinances. The commission is a planning body, not a permitting one.

Monroe County Planning Commission (planning, not permitting)
701 Main Street, Suite 405, Stroudsburg, PA 18360
Phone: (570) 517-3100 · Fax: (570) 517-3858
Email: mcpc@monroecountypa.gov
Hours: 8:00am to 4:30pm, Monday to Friday

How To Find Your Sewage Enforcement Officer

Two documents route you, and neither is a map.

• The Monroe County Planning Commission’s 2026 Municipal Directory lists each municipality’s officials, including the sewage enforcement officer where the municipality has named one. Four municipalities have no SEO printed against them in the directory, which is a reason to phone the municipal office rather than an indication that no officer exists.
• DEP’s Active SEO Report, published through the Pennsylvania Clean Water Academy, lists every certified officer in the Commonwealth and can be filtered by county. The table renders in the browser rather than as a download, so it needs a visit rather than a link.

Several Monroe townships also publish their officer directly on their own sewage pages, which is usually the fastest and most current source. Start there, then use the county directory to cross-check. The county publishes no SEO map, and we are not going to build one from municipal pages that change without notice.

What Does a Septic Permit Cost in Monroe County?

There is no county answer. Each township sets its own schedule by resolution, and the spread between them is large enough that a figure from the wrong township is worse than no figure at all. Three published Monroe schedules, quoted from the municipalities’ own documents:

Price Township also publishes its officer’s hourly rate at $92 an hour, prices planning-module reviews from $200 for a planning exemption to $400 for Components 2, 3 and 4, and adds a $25 township administrative fee. Barrett adds a rule about sequencing that is easy to trip over: septic and well permits must be obtained before any zoning or building permit is issued. Coolbaugh states that its permit is valid for three years from issue and that a suitability letter will not be issued.

Seventeen of the twenty are not in that table. Some publish schedules only as scanned images, some set fees by resolution and post them at the municipal building rather than online, and some publish no amounts at all. Chestnuthill’s code says the current schedule of fees shall be posted in the township municipal building and made available to interested persons on request, which is a fair description of how much of this county works. For what a system costs to build, rather than to permit, see our cost guides.

Pumping Rules Change at the Township Line

Three Monroe townships have sewage management ordinances with mandatory pumping intervals, and the intervals differ.

• Smithfield Township, three years. Its sewer management ordinance, adopted 26 April 1994, requires an owner whose building is served by a system containing a septic tank to have the tank pumped by a qualified pumper or hauler every three years, with documentation to the township. Cesspools and drywells are on the same three-year cycle.
• Pocono Township, four years. Chapter 333, Article III, adopted 16 April 2001 and amended several times since, most recently in April 2025, requires all tanks in all on-lot systems to be pumped at a minimum regular interval of once every four years. The township is divided into five maintenance districts, registers pumpers and haulers annually, and allows its officer to shorten or lengthen the interval beyond four years.
• Coolbaugh Township, five years, and only in part of the township. Its on-lot sewage management programme ordinance requires pumping at least once every five years with receipts submitted within thirty days, but applies only in the portions of the township identified in the official sewage facilities plan as a sewage management district. It is not automatically township-wide.
• Chestnuthill Township has no such programme. Its 1988 ordinance instead prohibits holding tanks in the township, sets a 100-foot isolation distance to any stream, lake or surface water, requires a minimum absorption area of 800 square feet or the state minimum plus 200 square feet, and requires installations to be completed within two years of the permit being issued, which is tighter than the three-year rule in the state code.

The other sixteen municipalities we have not surveyed, and we are not going to imply otherwise. If a website tells you Monroe County requires pumping every three years, it has taken one township’s ordinance and applied it to nineteen others.

What Is The Same Everywhere in Monroe

The state floor does not move, and it contains the deadlines you can hold any Monroe municipality to.

• The local agency must issue or deny a permit for a conventional system in writing within seven days of a complete initial application, must notify you in writing within seven days if it is incomplete, and must act within fifteen days of receiving what was missing (25 Pa. Code section 72.25). Middle Smithfield publishes exactly this: the officer approves or denies within seven days of receipt of a completed application.
• A permit expires if construction has not begun within three years (section 72.27), unless the municipality is stricter, as Chestnuthill is at two years.
• The system must be inspected before it is covered. Chestnuthill and Smithfield both allow cover at 72 hours absent a written response from the officer.
• The ten-acre permit exemption at section 72.22(e) applies only to a residence occupied by the owner or an immediate family member on a contiguous tract of ten acres or more, and only where the owner was the owner of record as of 10 January 1987. It also gives way wherever a local agency or municipality requires a permit by ordinance, so it is a municipal question here like everything else. Whoever installs a permit-exempt system indemnifies the Commonwealth, the local agency, the officer and the municipality under section 72.31.

Who does the digging also varies. Coolbaugh and Polk both put excavation and testing on the applicant’s contractor, with Polk stating that applicants are responsible to dig the required holes for the tests and that applications, fees and supporting documentation must reach the officer’s secretary before any testing. Middle Smithfield has the soil profile and percolation tests conducted by the applicant or consultant and observed by the officer. Chestnuthill’s officer may observe, conduct personally or otherwise confirm the tests. Ask before you book a machine. Our installation guide covers what happens after the permit issues.

Pennsylvania issues no septic installer licence anywhere, Monroe included. The competence check is the officer’s inspection against 25 Pa. Code Chapter 73, and for pumping companies the strongest public credential is DEP septage hauler registration, which is a filing rather than a vetting. See how we verify.

Monroe County Permit FAQs

Who do I call for a septic permit in Monroe County?

Your township or borough office, not the county. Monroe has no county health department and no county sewage agency, so each of the 20 municipalities runs its own Act 537 programme with a certified sewage enforcement officer. The county planning commission’s 2026 Municipal Directory lists the officers it has on record, and DEP’s Active SEO Report can be filtered by county.

How much is a septic permit in Monroe County?

It depends entirely on the township: $400 for the permit application and inspections in Barrett, $790 in Price, and $300 plus $300 of inspection fees in Coolbaugh. Percolation testing ranges from $225 to observe in Barrett to $800 in Price where the officer supplies the water. There is no county figure and anyone quoting one is guessing.

How often do I have to pump my septic tank in Monroe County?

Every three years in Smithfield, every four in Pocono, and every five in the parts of Coolbaugh inside a sewage management district. Chestnuthill has no pumping programme at all. Sixteen municipalities we have not surveyed. This is a municipal ordinance question, and the answer for your address comes from your township office.

Does the 10-acre exemption apply in Monroe County?

Only if your municipality has not required a permit by ordinance, and only if the owner was the owner of record as of January 10, 1987. The state exemption also requires the residence to be occupied by the owner or an immediate family member on a contiguous tract of ten acres or more. Given how many Monroe townships legislate in this area, treat the exemption as unavailable until your municipality confirms otherwise in writing.

Do I need the septic permit before the building permit in Monroe County?

In some townships, yes, and explicitly. Barrett states that septic and well permits must be obtained before any zoning or building permit is issued, and Smithfield bars a zoning or building permit until a valid sewage permit has issued. Ask your municipality about sequencing early, because getting it wrong costs a season rather than a fee.

Sources: Monroe County Planning Commission 2025 Annual Report and 2026 Municipal Directory; Barrett Township Fee Schedule (revised 05/24/23); Price Township Resolution No. 2026-5, Fee Schedule; Coolbaugh Township sewage permit instructions and On-Lot Sewage Management Program Ordinance; Smithfield Township Code Chapter 18, Part 5, Sewer Management Ordinance (Ordinance 128, adopted 26 April 1994); Pocono Township Code Chapter 333, Article III (adopted 16 April 2001, amended through Ordinance 2025-14, 21 April 2025); Chestnuthill Township Code Chapter 88 (adopted 5 April 1988); Middle Smithfield Township permits page; Polk Township sewage enforcement office page; PA DEP Active SEO Report. All read August 7, 2026. 25 Pa. Code Chapters 71, 72 and 73. Municipal fees and ordinances change; confirm with your township or borough before applying.

Ground conditions, verified providers and the wider picture: Monroe County septic hub. How permitting works elsewhere in the state: Pennsylvania permit guides.