43
Liberty resident sues Trumbull Co. over projected cost for sewer project
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A resident of Arms Drive in Liberty Township has sued the Trumbull County commissioners over the sewer project being constructed on his street projected to cost him $51,570.
Nicholas Pappas, 2180 Arms Drive, filed suit in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, saying the projected amount he must pay for the sewer is “outrageous, inequitable, unfair, unjust and extremely disproportionate.”
Pappas said he originally filed legal action in Trumbull County Probate Court that challenged the amount of his assessment, but the suit was filed later than required, so it was dismissed.
The newest suit, filed with the general-division judges, seeks to overturn the county commissioners’ Nov. 24, 2010, approval of the sewer project on the grounds that their action was not “clear and unambiguous.”
As part of the newest suit, Pappas submitted an exhibit showing the letter he received indicating that the commissioners had approved the project.
It says the commissioners voted “to approve or deny” the project. That is too ambiguous, Pappas said.
Pappas said the newest suit is being filed only to give him a chance to argue his main point, which is that his assessment is too high because it is based on front-footage rather than a combination of front- footage and tax valuation.
Jim Brutz, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor who represents the Trumbull County commissioners, said the commissioners did indicate that they approved the project at the Nov. 24, 2010, meeting, even though the letter Pappas received might not make that clear.
Pappas said Ohio law doesn’t specify which method of assessing water and sewer projects must be used.
Assessing the cost based on front-footage only is unfair to him, Pappas said, because about one-third of his 452-foot frontage is on land that is wooded, hilly and cannot be developed.
Some of the 15 property owners on Arms Drive filed a petition with the county, asking for the sewers, and 83.5 percent of them were in favor of the project during the public-hearing stage, the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer’s office said.
Pappas said if taxable value of the properties were used to calculate the cost, he would pay $19,019 as his share of the project instead of $51,570.
Rex Fee, executive director of the sanitary engineer’s office, said that if Pappas didn’t pay the assessment on his entire frontage, that amount would have to be paid by his neighbors, which wouldn’t seem fair to his neighbors.
Front-footage is used for assessments on nearly every water and sewer project in the state, Fee added.