Officials revoke stormwater utility fee

Monday, August 28, 2006 WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners rescinded a stormwater utility fee of $15 to $30 today that was intended to address an Environmental Protection Agency mandate that the county clean up its stormwater. Two commissioners scuttled the plan for now, less than a month after it was enacted. Meeting this morning, Commissioners Paul Heltzel and Dan Polivka voted to rescind the board's Aug. 3 decision. Commissioner James Tsagaris, who voted for the measure early this month, did not attend the meeting. Heltzel said he'd asked Jason Earnhart, assistant county prosecutor, about the method for rescinding the measure. Earnhart worked out the details with Paulette Godfrey, commissioners clerk, to put the measure on the agenda. Proponents of the stormwater utility had come to the commissioners, asking for the measure to be approved at a time when other issues were brewing, Heltzel said. It would have allowed collection of fees on property tax bills from residents in Cortland, Girard, Hubbard, Niles and Newton Falls; McDonald Village; and townships of Bazetta, Brookfield, Champion, Howland, Hubbard, Liberty, Newton, Vienna and Warren. "Since then I've talked to a couple people and read a couple articles. I just need more time," Heltzel said. "We have to do something, but it's a matter of what. It's not going to hurt anything if this thing's delayed a month or two." Polivka, who cast a dissenting vote Aug. 3, said, "In this climate we're in, if we don't need this until 2008, I don't know why we're doing this now." The EPA set a deadline of January 2008 to meet stormwater requirements, proponents have said. A mechanism would be set up under the stormwater utility to monitor discharges and enforce septic-system regulations.