Girard council OKs wastewater rate

Staff report

Girard

City council has approved a special wastewater rate for pipe maker V&M Star.

Council on Monday approved a motion that will charge V&M Star $2.99 per 1,000 gallons of waste- water. The discounted rate is 32 percent below what residential customers pay.

City Service Director Jerry Lambert said the wastewater coming out of V&M star doesn’t cost as much to treat as residential or commercial wastewater.

Lambert said the city will treat all restroom facilities at the plant at the normal residential rate, while the discounted rate will affect only industrial wastewater coming from the facility.

Girard, which officially was released from fiscal emergency by the state in June, is set to make $180,000 annually from the deal. The five-year agreement between V&M Star and the city of Girard is set to expire in June 2017.

The plant currently sends, on average, 2.5 million gallons of wastewater each day to Girard’s treatment facility. The facility can hold up to 5 million gallons.

V&M, which produces steel tubes for the gas and oil industry, is set to open a plant expansion in Girard later this year.