Youngstown council approves fee changes, with modifications

YOUNGSTOWN

City council tonight approved raising the residential sanitation fee to fund demolition work while offsetting it with a cut in the water rate with some significant changes from the original proposal.

The initial plan was to increase the sanitation fee from $14.75 a month to $24.75 by July 1 with the first $5 increase starting Dec. 1; reduce the monthly water rate for residents by 30 percent, about $9 for the average city user; and provide 20 percent reductions to homeowners who are at least 65 years old or are disabled and make less than $30,500 annually.

The plan adopted keeps the same rate structure for sanitation, but reduced the water rate by a flat $10 monthly amount. Also, the 20 percent reductions will also be given to seniors and the disabled making less than $30,500 a year who rent, and the changes are good for the next 10 years.

Also, council voted to repeal its pit-bull ban passed eight years ago, and was no longer enforced.

Council agreed today to give the board of control the authority to use $500,000 in wastewater funds to remove asbestos and demolish the rest of the former Wick Avenue car-dealership properties, once called the Wick Six.

For the complete story, read Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com