Girard to raise water rates 20%, retroactive to Feb. 1

Girard has to pay more for its water and is passing the cost along to its customers.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

GIRARD — Municipal water rates are going up 20 percent, and the increase is retroactive to Feb. 1.

Mayor James Melfi said the city had little choice but to raise rates after learning all three of the neighboring municipalities that supply water to the city are raising their rates.

The mayor said the increase will cost the average residential customer $2.60 more per month, based on a monthly usage rate of 5,000 gallons.

Girard buys water from Niles, Youngstown and McDonald (which make up the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District) and sells it to 4,200 customers in the city and 2,200 more in Weathersfield and Liberty townships, Melfi said.

Customers won’t see the rate increase until the arrival of their water bills in April, he said.

“It’s one of the toughest parts of the job,” Melfi said of having to raise the rates, noting he really had no option in the matter.

“I have a responsibility to keep that water fund solvent,” he said, noting the city runs about $2.5 million through the account annually.

Melfi said Niles, which supplies 66 percent of Girard’s water, notified the city at the end of January that it was raising its rates 20 percent retroactive to Jan. 1.

Youngstown, which supplies 25 percent of Girard’s water, has told the city it will raise its rates 10 percent July 1. McDonald, which supplies just 9 percent of Girard’s water, has also said it will raise rates 10 percent July 1, he said.

The mayor said he and the city auditor sat down with the utility committee to determine how to deal with the increases. The only way to keep the water fund solvent is to raise Girard’s rates as well, he said.

Since 1999, the three municipalities supplying Girard with water have raised their rates 62 percent, but only 32 percent of that was passed along to Girard’s customers, Melfi said.

The water fund has been covering the difference but can’t handle another increase without raising the city’s own rates, the mayor added.

Melfi said he understands that the Environmental Protection Agency has mandated some improvements to the MVSD system, resulting in the Niles, Youngstown and McDonald rates going up.

gwin@vindy.com