Residents urged to apply for tap-in fee help

The township applied for funding four times before succeeding.
By MARY SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- Residents of Austintown-Warren Road, where a new waterline is to be installed, are being encouraged to see whether they qualify for financial assistance to pay for tap-ins.
Those who may be eligible and received a letter from the Trumbull County Planning Commission on the matter, but did not respond to it, should contact the commission, township Administrator David Pugh said.
County planner Julie Green said she has sent out another round of letters to residents, but anyone who thinks they may be eligible under federal low-to-moderate income guidelines can call her office at (330) 675-2480 to apply.
Green said the tap-in fees will be paid to the city of Niles, because it provides water in that area, and the cost of a tap-in and the meter will be about $900. In addition, residents will pay $20 per foot to have a lateral line run to tap into the edge of the right of way to connect to the waterline.
Pugh said that applications for low-to-moderate income families could come, for example, from a family with two children in which only one parent works, or senior citizens.
This is the third phase of an expected four-phase project to get waterlines installed in the area, Pugh said.
Contract to be awarded
Green said low bidder on the project is Dave Sugar Excavating of New Middletown with a bid of $531,415. The contract has not yet been awarded. Green said the total cost of the project based on engineering estimates was expected to be $727,036.
She added that more than $100,000 has already been spent on engineering, permits, insurance and a right-of-way encroachment fee for CSX, a railroad with tracks running along the road. The waterline will be installed underneath the tracks. The encroachment fee was $5,000.
There are three sources of funding for the project through community development block grants, a fiscal 2004 grant of $315,000, a fiscal 2005 grant of $31,000, and expecting borrowing of $184,500 from Trumbull County's revolving loan fund.
Green said the county hopes it can break ground on the project before year's end. She said once the contract is awarded, the contractor will give a more accurate timetable at a pre-construction meeting.
Installation plans
The waterline will be installed in two sections.
First is the southern section, north of Carson Salt Springs Road along Austintown-Warren Road to loop the system and tie it into an existing line on the south side of Austintown-Warren Road heading south to Salt Springs Road.
The line will also be run north, just past 27th Street on Austintown-Warren Road to Burnett East Road to the existing water line at the Warren city limits.
Pugh said the township has been working to get waterlines installed in the Austintown-Warren Road area for 10 to 12 years, and has already completed getting a waterline installed on Old Salt Springs Road.
The township applied for funding for the current project four times before it was successful, Pugh said.