Vienna woman disputes $53,000 sewer-line bill

By Ed Runyan

Officials say state law gives them no latitude in what they must do.

WARREN — A Vienna woman may have no choice but to argue her case in court over whether she should have to pay about $53,000 for a sewer line that now runs in front of two homes she owns on Warren Sharon Road near state Route 11.

Barbara George went before the Trumbull County Board of Health, which ruled at its meeting this month that she must tie into the sewer.

State law says that if a sewer line is built in front of a home, the owner must tie into it, county officials say.

But George says she can’t afford to borrow $53,000 plus additional tie-in costs of about $12,000.

“I don’t have a dollar in the bank. I am on Social Security and disability,” the 63-year-old woman said last week.

George owns a home at Henn Hyde Road and Warren Sharon, and another a short distance east on Warren Sharon Road.

About a year ago a sewer line was extended east on Warren Sharon Road near Henn Hyde Road, going under Route 11 and coming out on the other side, where it now serves the new Avalon Creek apartment complex.

Universal Development of Liberty, the project developer, paid for the project through what is known as a reimbursable agreement with the county sanitary engineering department, meaning Universal paid for the sewer but is entitled to recoup some of the cost from property owners who benefited from the project, said Rex Fee, executive director of the sanitary-engineering department.

George says she considers the $40,000 cost for the 400 feet of frontage on 10364 East Market Street and $13,000 for 127 feet of frontage for 116 Henn Hyde Road to be too much.

The county auditor’s office has the East Market Street property valued at $60,500 and the Henn Hyde Road property valued at $73,800.

George said she also thinks it’s wrong for her to pay a share of the cost of a sewer that had to be drilled through the ground under the highway.

“I don’t think that it’s fair that homeowners have to pay for the cost of the sewer under Route 11 because they are not benefiting from the sewer line,” George said.

By that, she meant she didn’t think the sewer line will increase property values in the area much because most of the houses there have no “real frontage” because a guard rail runs in front of them.

“You can’t help but feel sorry for her, but we’re just following the law,” Fee said, adding that he has arranged a meeting for next week with George, the developer and the sanitary-engineering department to discuss the issue further.

Frank Migliozzi, director of environmental health for the county health department, said his department is required by state law to notify George that she must tie into the sewer.

If George doesn’t comply by mid-March, the Board of Health will most likely file a complaint in municipal court, Migliozzi said.

George doesn’t live at either location, she said. Her son lives in the Howland home. She receives no rent from the people she allows to live in the Vienna home, she said, because of their financial condition.

The courts may be the only place where someone will have the latitude to examine George’s case, Migliozzi and Fee said.

“A court is the body that can exempt someone from payment,” Migliozzi said.

“It’s something the courts will have to handle,” Fee said.