Water company seeking rate rise

The company initially sought a 6 percent yearly increase.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF Writer
POLAND -- Aqua Ohio is seeking a 4.6 percent annual increase from Mahoning County customers in each of the next three years.
The company supplies water to about 18,000 customers in Poland village and township, New Middletown, Lowellville and Struthers and Beaver Township and parts of Coitsville, Springfield, Canfield and Boardman townships.
The 4.6 percent increase is down from 6 percent each year the company had initially sought.
The increase must be approved by Mahoning County commissioners as well as the village or city councils in the affected municipalities.
Albert J. Sauline, vice president of governmental relations for Aqua, said that to save money both for the company and its customers, Aqua for the last 20 years has negotiated its rate increases with local officials rather than going before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
"Going before the PUCO can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees," Sauline said.
A booklet distributed by Aqua says that community negotiations have saved $1.4 million in legal expenses over the last 20 years.
Instead, company representatives meet with a panel of representatives from the areas affected to reach a proposal and negotiate.
The panel met and negotiated three times between late October and last month to reach the 4.6 percent annual increase proposal.
What's expected
Joe Warino, Mahoning County sanitary engineer who served as the representative for the unincorporated areas on the committee, expects commissioners to consider the rate legislation by year's end.
The rates, which if approved by commissioners and the respective municipalities would run from Feb. 1, 2006, through Dec. 31, 2008, are based on meter size.
The 2005 rate for a five-eighths-inch to three-fourths-inch meter, the smallest size, is $7.11 per month. That would increase to $7.44 per month for 2006, to $7.78 per month in 2007 and $8.14 per month in 2008.
The 2005 rate for the largest size meter, 6 inches, is $501.19 per month. That would increase to $524.24 per month in 2006 and to $548.36 per month in 2007 and $573.58 per month in 2008.
Aqua representatives have said that the average family bill is $29.19 monthly. That would increase to $30.53 monthly in 2006, $31.93 monthly in 2007 and $33.40 per month in 2008.
Sauline said the increase is to fund roughly $16 million in capital improvements planned for the next three years. Those improvements include about $10 million for treatment plant expansion and upgrades, and $1 million for dams at Pine and McKelvey lakes, Sauline has said.
denise_dick@vindy.com