Struthers waste to reduce utility costs

The generators will run on methane gas, a byproduct at the waste treatment plant, to save money.

By JEANNE STARMACK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

STRUTHERS — The city council has agreed to a project that should save hundreds of thousands of dollars in utility costs over the years at the waste treatment plant.

Two generators that will run on trapped methane gas that’s now burned off as a byproduct at the plant will cost $4 million to design and build.

Residents won’t see their sewer rates increase, though, said Mayor Terry Stocker and city Auditor Tina Morell.

Part of the project is being funded with federal stimulus money the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency distributed for communities’ green projects. Struthers is getting $1.5 million, an amount that could increase if other projects drop off the state’s list.

The rest of the money, $2.5 million, will come in the form of a 20-year loan the city and Mahoning County will pursue together. The county has input because it reimburses the city 64.5 percent of its costs for the plant for treating waste from other communities.

The bulk of that loan will be repaid at 3.4 percent interest. A portion of it, $400,000 that the city will use for a design loan, will be repaid at 3.2 percent interest. The loan, also through the state EPA, originates from stimulus money, Morell said.

The money to repay the loans will come from a capital bonds retirement fund that rate payers already contribute to at $3 a household, said Morell.

That fund will remain solvent without an increase, said Morell and Stocker.

The council unanimously authorized Stocker to apply for the design loan with the EPA’s Division of Environmental Financial Assistance at a special meeting Monday.

The mayor called the meeting because the city must meet a Sept. 15 deadline for submitting designs, contracts and a permit-to-install application to the EPA.

Morell has said the generators will save 60 percent to 70 percent of utility costs at the plant.

Stocker said projections for 2009 utility costs are $252,000. In 20 years, the projection rises to $600,000 and then to nearly $1 million in 40 years, he said.

starmack@vindy.com