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What to know before Campbell’s town hall Saturday
CAMPBELL
The fate of Campbell’s water plant may finally be decided Saturday after more than a year of discussions and investigations.
Mayor Nick Phillips is having a town-hall meeting at 3 p.m. in the Roosevelt Park community center to discuss the city’s findings regarding the water plant, which is in need of millions of dollars’ worth of upgrades in order to stay in compliance with new EPA regulations.
Faced with the prospect of attempting to bring the plant and the city’s pipes – the former, built in 1973, hasn’t been upgraded in 30 years, the latter are, in some areas, nearly a century old – up to code or selling the plant, the city turned to the public for comment and CT Consultants for an analysis of the plant’s needs.
CT Consultants has estimated the total repairs needed to bring the plant and the water distribution system into compliance at $14.2 million.
Should the city choose to retain the plant and attempt to stay in compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency, the cost of upgrades and replacement would largely be shouldered by the city’s 3,000 water customers through rate increases.
While Campbell’s water isn’t remotely the most expensive in the region, it isn’t the cheapest, either. The average rate for the area, according to CT Consultant’s data, is $47.66. Campbell’s average rate based on average consumption of 4,000 gallons per month is $54.50.
To even begin to raise enough money to address the plant, the city would need to raise rates to nearly $80 per month for an average user.
“We’re in a tough spot, and we need to make some tough decisions,” Phillips said. “At least 40 to 50 percent of our community is retired. How much can we justify taking from people who are on fixed incomes? We have good, hearty people in our city, but at some point, you hit a limit and they say, ‘What else can we do?’”
The city is leaning heavily toward selling the plant and has two potential buyers in mind: Aqua Ohio, which has expressed interest in purchasing the plant and offered the city $7 million for it last year; and the city of Youngstown, which is a member of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.
Phillips and the city’s water superintendent, Joe Tovarnak, will go over the pros and cons of the city’s plans during the town-hall meeting.
City council President George Levendis has been adamant for much of the process that the city needs to sell the plant, arguing that the plant is no longer an asset to the city as the city’s water department has been operating at a deficit for the past two years.
Phillips doesn’t want to lose the plant but recognizes the difficult problem the city faces. “I don’t want to blame the past, but we wouldn’t be in this situation if former administrations had put plans in place to raise the water rates at appropriate times,” Phillips said. “Now we’re in a tough spot and we have to make some hard decisions. I really tried everything to find alternative options but, unfortunately, Aqua Ohio has us landlocked. I still don’t want to sell, but sometimes we have to do what’s necessary.”