County wants to better publicize septic-upgrade funding options

By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- After researching funding options available to low-income county residents with failing septic systems, officials with the Trumbull County Planning Commission concluded that the best way to help them may be to provide better information.
Julie Green, who works for the commission, prepared a report for the commission's Housing Review Committee in which she listed all the funding options known to her and the county health department.
Green, commission director Alan Knapp and others discussed the weaknesses and strengths of the programs, saying each has the potential to help some county residents but not a large number.
Officials agreed funding information should be provided to each homeowner who gets a publication from the health department declaring the need for their septic system to be upgraded.
Knapp said he hoped that continued cooperation between the commission and the health department might enable the agencies to produce such a publication. Currently, notices include information on contractors who can do the septic work and a phone number at the planning commission but not funding options.
County Commissioner Dan Polivka asked for the meeting recently, saying he has had calls from elderly county residents with failed septic systems who say they cannot afford to upgrade their systems because the cost can be $15,000 or more.
Changing a previous stance
He wanted to know whether the county's Home Program, which uses about $300,000 in grant money annually to fix homes for low-income people, could be used to address septic concerns. The Housing Review Committee oversees the Home Program.
The committee previously had written a policy statement that said it would avoid using Home Program funds for septic problems. But committee members agreed Tuesday that sample legislation that would modify that stance could be drawn up for consideration at a meeting next month.
The county does receive funding through the Community Development Block Grant formula program that could be used for septic systems, Knapp said, but he advised against it.
One reason is that such funding would take away from funding used to build sewers in the county's low-income areas. That funding also serves as leverage to obtain other grants, he said.
Green said among the most promising new source of funding is an idea from Frank Migliozzi, county director of environmental health, that the county establish a nuisance-abatement program started with bond funding that would provide low-interest loans and grants. Homeowners using the resources would then pay the money back on their property taxes.