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Canfield raises stormwater fees to fund upgrades
CANFIELD
Council members approved a $15 quarterly increase to city utility customers’ bills to generate more money for stormwater infrastructure upgrades.
The ordinance, approved as an emergency after a first reading during Wednesday’s council meeting, bumps the fixed $9 quarterly fee to $24, in order to generate an annual stormwater fund surplus of about $358,610.
Single-family residents can expect to pay $60 more a year on utility bills, he said. The increase will take effect on the next billing cycle.
City Manager Wade Calhoun said the fee has not changed since 2003, and “it was about time for that stormwater increase.” The fee was first introduced at $1 a month in 1992.
Though some residents questioned whether officials would make good use of the fee increase during a late June meeting on the proposal, the measure found supporters Wednesday.
“If it means helping my neighbors, I am all in favor of it. I know what it’s like to go into a basement with a bottle of Clorox and start cleaning up,” said James Litwin of Fairview Avenue, adding he’s seen fewer flooding incidents since city stormwater upgrades came to his area.
Nancy Brundage, whose Winona Avenue home took on sewer backup for the first time in decades after the May 28 storm, added, “If any of you vote against it, you will not get my vote in the next election. This is urgent. It needs to be done.”
In other business, council members awarded a $536,240 contract for the city’s 2019 street paving projects to American Contracting LLC of Youngstown.
The five streets set for resurfacing this year are Brookpark, Cardinal, Deertrail, Sawmill Run and Talsman drives. Southview Road, Scott Street and Edwards Avenue were included in the bid as alternate projects.
Ohio Public Works Commission funding accounts for $225,000, with the remainder coming from the city’s general fund, Calhoun said.
Canfield Township Trustee Joe Paloski appeared before council to contest a water bill trustees feel was issued in error.
The city bills the township for water usage at Canfield Township Community Park, but trustees believed its agreement kept the township from being billed until its total water usage reached 21,000 gallons, which the township hit late last month, more than five years after it started using city water.
Calhoun said the city’s former billing clerk misinterpreted the park water meter’s 21,000-gallon minimum charge as a billing waiver for the first 21,000 gallons.