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More Liberty property owners win judgment regarding county sewer charges
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
In a nearly identical lawsuit decision as one in November 2013, a Trumbull County judge has ruled in favor of three property owners along Belmont Avenue in Liberty Township who were billed improperly for their part of a county sewer project.
The August decision by Common Pleas Court Judge Ronald Rice says Michael and Angela Dickey, Harry and Martha Howard and Paul and Glen Rossi are owed a refund from the county totaling $32,592 – the amount they paid for their sewer line in 2010.
The three couples were part of what the county sanitary engineer’s office called Squaw Creek Phase 1, which ran from Tibbetts-Wick Road north to Crews Hood Road.
Judge Rice referred extensively in his ruling to Judge W. Wyatt McKay’s 2013 ruling in a case involving other property owners in Phase 1, calling the earlier decision “directly on point.”
In that case, Judge McKay ruled that the county used a method of charging property owners that was intended for private contractors, not the county government, and that the method was unfair to the property owners because it required them to pay 20 years of interest up front.
In his ruling, Judge McKay said the way the county sanitary engineer attempted to operate the Phase 1 project gave the county an “unauthorized, unreasonable ... and outrageous windfall at the expense of its citizenry by charging 20 years worth of interest.”
The newest lawsuit was filed in April 2015, after Judge McKay made his ruling.
Judge Rice said the county’s refusal to acknowledge the similarity of Judge McKay’s ruling to the Dickey case is “unfortunate, as it has now subjected even more citizens to bring such litigation against their own government.”
The main difference between the two suits was that the earlier property owners never paid the sewer charges, and the more recent property owners were owed a refund because they had paid them.
The ruling means the Dickeys will receive a refund of $13,413, the Howards will receive a refund of $6,241, and the Rossis will receive a refund of $12,939.