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Sewer budget rises for 2017
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning County commissioners approved Thursday a 2017 budget of $29,693,382 for the county sanitary engineer’s office, compared with an original 2016 budget of $28,082,381 for that office.
The budget consists largely of revenue from sewer user fees, but also includes about $500,000 in permit fees for sanitary sewer connections, said Bill Coleman, office manager in the sanitary engineer’s office.
Contributing to the increase are rising utility costs; the need to pay for construction projects, including those associated with the closing of the New Middletown wastewater treatment plant and transfer of its sewage to the Boardman treatment plant; and the 5.8 percent sewer rate increase for the average residential customer that will take effect Jan. 1.
“We have about $30 million worth of new projects that we are undertaking to improve the wastewater system. There’s additional debt that will be coming online associated with those projects,” Coleman said.
“We are adding also more facilities,” including pumping stations, he said.
“We have what they call sewer revenue bonds. We have to be able to show that our rate structure will support the debt,” by having revenues exceed expenses by 15 percent to cover any possible decline in use by customers and still meet the system’s debt obligations, he explained.
The commissioners also passed a resolution to cooperate with the Ohio Department of Transportation to upgrade 12th Street through Sebring and Smith Township and designated county Engineer Patrick Ginnetti as the county’s representative for that effort.
Lou Vega, county recycling director, announced that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency recently certified that Mahoning County recycled, composted or reused 30.9 percent of its residential and commercial waste stream in 2015, well above the state mandate of 25 percent. The county commissioners’ next meeting will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the county courthouse basement.