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Youngstown council will consider raising sewer rates by 17 percent over four years
YOUNGSTOWN
City council will consider Wednesday whether to raise sewer rates by 17 percent over the next four years and authorize the board of control to spend $146 million to improve its wastewater system as mandated by a federal agency.
Sewer rates would increase by 3.99 percent annually starting Jan. 1. The proposal would see the monthly sewer rate of $84.55 per 1,000 cubic feet increase to $98.87 by Jan. 1, 2018, for the city’s 22,000 wastewater customers.
The improvements, to be done over 20 years, are required by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The federal and state EPAs need to approve the final proposal, and are expected to do so after council’s vote.
The improvements include $36 million in upgrades to the city’s wastewater treatment plant, $62 million for a new wet-weather facility near the plant to better control sewage in heavier rainfalls, and a $48 million interceptor to keep wastewater from flowing into Mill Creek MetroParks.
Also Wednesday, David Cook, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 312, which represents 138 city firefighters, will address council to discuss a plan from Mayor John A. McNally’s administration to take a firetruck off the road, starting Jan. 17, and not replace eight firefighters who will leave through retirement shortly. It’s a key component of McNally’s plan to save the city $1 million annually.
City firefighters object to the reduction, saying it will adversely impact response time to fires and put firefighters and residents in dangerous situations.
Without the reduction in firefighters, the city’s financial situation would be worse with a strong chance a station would be closed in 2016, McNally said.
City council will consider legislation at its Dec. 19 meeting to eliminate three captains, three lieutenants and two firefighters, the eight positions being eliminated through retirement as part of this plan, McNally said. It will be discussed with council’s safety committee at its 5 p.m. Thursday meeting, he said.
Meanwhile, members of the firefighters union and city negotiators are meeting this week to discuss a new contract. Neither side is optimistic a deal will be struck. The next step would be nonbinding fact-finding, McNally said.
The firefighters rejected a three-year deal in September that included salary increases for its members for the first time in five years. It was rejected primarily because it would remove caps on the maximum amount an employee could contribute to health-care premiums.
All city employees who receive health insurance pay 10 percent of the premiums.
The firefighters have caps of $100 a month for single coverage and $200 for family coverage. The city’s plans currently are $666 for single coverage and $1,678 for family coverage.
Also Wednesday, council will consider giving authority to the board of control for a 75 percent, 10-year real-property tax abatement for Strollo Architects, which is improving the long-vacant Wells Building in the city’s downtown. The $5 million project would see Strollo use the ground floor of the 23,564-square-foot building as its office with 12 apartments on the upper three floors.
The project is expected to be completed by Sept. 1, 2015.
If approved, the abatement would save $274,763 in property taxes for Strollo and the firm would pay $91,588 over that 10-year period.
Council also is expected to vote Wednesday on a resolution to have the city seek a $50,000 state grant to be used to hire a firm to find a home for a Mahoning Valley Advanced Manufacturing Training Center operated by the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition, said T. Sharon Woodberry, the city’s economic development director.
The location would be in Youngstown in either a building in need of renovation or a new facility, she said. The grant would pay for a firm to recommend the best location and provide the cost of renovation or construction, she said.