The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Utility rates freeze may extend
Officials say more study needed to find correct rates to charge utility customers
A 90-day freeze on water and sewer rates could last the rest of 2020 as Lorain City Council and the city administration ponder utility costs.
On Jan. 27, Lorain City Council’s Streets & Utilities Committee spent more than an hour discussing charges to city residents for drinking water and treating wastewater.
There was no formal action, but at times the city leaders and residents were impassioned about how the current rates have become a significant financial burden for customers.
Although many have strong feelings about the situation, “I think there’s a lot of positive movement going on here,” said committee Chairman Joshua Thornsberry, who represents Ward 8 on Lorain’s west side.
Thornsberry hinted that Mayor Jack Bradley’s administration request of the threemonth water and sewer rate freeze might be extended for the rest of the year for more detailed study.
For the rest of 2020, the administration will study the utilities and determine the best rates to charge customers.
Meanwhile, Bradley said residents who are facing shutoff notices due to high water bills should call his office. For now, Bradley and his staff are the liaisons between customers and the Utilities Department, the mayor said.
The mayor’s office phone number is 440-204-2002.
Lorainites cannot ignore the city’s mandates to provide safe drinking water and not discharge sewage into the Black River and Lake Erie, Thornsberry said.
Those mandates come from state and federal environmental regulators, but not every charge is related to the U.S. or Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, he said.
“Our whole, entire system needs work,” Thornsberry said. “For example, there’s no EPA mandate to fix hundred-year-old waterlines, yet I don’t want my residents drinking out of them. There’s no EPA mandate to fix plants that are hundreds of years old, but they need fixed.”
One study by CT Consultants Inc. estimates Lorain’s need to invest a quarter-billion dollars into EPA mandated and recommended improvements, Thornsberry said.
The new city administration has those goals, but a new approach toward achieving them than the prior mayors and staff, Thornsberry said.
Freezing the 2020 rates at 2019 levels will not harm current projects, Bradley said, citing a conversation with CT Consultants staff from earlier on Jan. 27.
But that’s not the end of the project, he said. The administration intends to complete an audit of the Utilities Department and does not want to develop a large fund of money just sitting there, Bradley said.
Councilwoman-at-Large Mary Springowski said the rate freeze was a “BandAid” approach. She called for a full restructuring of rates, and Bradley agreed.
Councilman-at-Large Tony Dimacchia suggested other consulting firms could help find creative solutions. Councilman-atLarge Mitch Fallis agreed the best way to find a permanent solution is to continue the public conversation on the issue.
When Ward 1 Councilwoman Beth Henley asked about various funds, Bradley said it could be possible to finance a project over years so it is not a burden to residents of today.
Raising utility rates to pay for projects worked. The city currently has more than $21.91 million in its water fund and $19.72 million in its sewer fund.
With other funds, the total cash balance of the Utilities Department now is more than $43.3 million, said city Auditor Karen Shawver.
It appeared the fund would more than cover sewer projects planned through 2023 and estimated to cost $25.8 million, according to figures from the Utilities Department. That list did not include an estimate for waterlines in that same period.
Ward 6 Councilman Rey Carrion said he has a problem with utility rates that raise more money than the city needs to pay for the EPA mandates.
Ward 3 Councilwoman Pamela Carter said the city had a utilities deficit when she first was elected.
Pressure to raise the rates became so intense, Carter said she wanted to quit Council. She said she had to agree to rate increases she knew were not fair and would not work, or the administration would impose the price hikes.
Hearing Law Director Pat Riley’s Jan. 21 explanation how the EPA mandates did not dictate city utility rates, Carter said, was like having a burden removed and handcuffs taken off.
“I’m willing to try and get it right and I hope everybody else is willing to do it,” she said. “Let’s not rush it through. Let’s get it right.”
Council voted based on the information they were given, Carter said, and Springowski agreed.
Ward 2 Councilman Rob McFarland, Safety-Service Director Max Upton, Utilities Director Paul Wilson and citizens John Wargo, Larry Duffield, Tia Hilton, Victoria Kempton, and attorneys Robert Gargasz and Gerald Phillips all spoke in the meeting.
The residents and attorneys did not hold back in their criticism.
Based on a cash analysis, “these rates are excessive, they’re unjust and they’re unfair,” Phillips said. “These rates are outrageous.”
“I’m willing to try and get it right and I hope everybody else is willing to do it. Let’s not rush it through. Let’s get it right.”
— Ward 3 Councilwoman Pamela Carter