Officials consider water-rate increase

A rate increase decision is expected around July.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- City officials are considering raising water rates for the fourth year in a row.
No decision on a water-rate increase will be made until around July, said city Water Commissioner John Casciano.
The Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, an agency that sells water in bulk from the Meander Reservoir to Youngstown and Niles, is raising its rate by 6.7 percent to the cities effective July 1 to pay for capital improvements.
The MVSD raised its rate by 11.5 percent to the cities in July 2005. Youngstown raised its rate to its customers by 5.5 percent last year.
The city raised its rate by 8.5 percent in 2003 and again in 2004 to pay for water improvement projects, including a new tank on Kirk Road in Austintown. Before those increases, the water rate was the same for nine years.
The typical residential water rate is about $24 a month for city residents, and about $34 a month for customers not living in Youngstown. Customers not living in Youngstown pay a 40-percent surcharge.
In addition to the MVSD increase, the Kirk Road tank project is costing the city $2,843,021, after the board of control on Thursday approved $10,021 in change orders for the job.
The board hired CB & amp;I Constructors Inc., a company with its corporate headquarters in the Netherlands, for $2,833,000 in June 2005 to build a 1.5-million-gallon water tank in Austintown.
The tank is replacing a 125,000-gallon water tank on Kirk Road, near the new water tank, and a 500,000-gallon tank on Dunlap Drive, also in Austintown.
The large tank can be seen from about a mile away. The tank construction will be done by the end of this year and be put into service by next spring, Casciano said.
The tank will increase water storage and pressure for water department customers in Austintown, Canfield and Jackson townships. The tank also will allow the city to expand its water service to the southwest.
The board of control also approved paying up to $76,516 to MS Consultants, a Youngstown company handling the tank's engineering work. The money is for revisions to the original contract that called for MS to receive $36,357 for construction management and on-site inspection of the project.
New waterlines
The board of control approved Thursday paying $588,160 to Marucci & amp; Gaffney Excavating of Youngstown to move the city's waterlines under state Route 46 between New Road and Mahoning Avenue in Austintown.
The city has no choice but to install new lines on the road because of the expansion project being done to the road by the Ohio Department of Transportation, Casciano said.
Also Thursday, the board of control hired Hively Construction, a Canfield company, for $134,500 to overhaul the exterior marquee at the city-owned 20 Federal Place, the former Phar-Mor Centre on West Federal Street.
The marquee will include the 20 Federal Place name on it. A canvass sign with the building's name hangs on the structure's exterior over lettering that reads: Phar-Mor Centre.
The work should start shortly and be done in about 60 days, said Carmen S. Conglose Jr., the city's deputy director of public works.
On March 30, the board approved a $250,200 contract with VEC Systems Inc., a Girard company, to repair the building's roof.
The board approved Thursday the final Chevrolet Centre construction change order. It came from Bruce & amp; Merilees Electric Co., the New Castle, Pa., company that handled electrical work at the city-owned arena.
With the change order, the construction cost was close to $28 million. The original cost of the work, before change orders, was $26.91 million.
skolnick@vindy.com