Council cuts sewer rates

New rates to be reflected in bills through 2021

Lorain sewer customers will see a price break coming this summer.

On June 15, Lorain City Council

approved an ordinance cutting the charge for wastewater treatment through the end of 2021.

The price cut comes by lowering the part of the bill known as the regulatory capital improvement compliance charge, according to the city legislation.

Exact rates depend on the amount of wastewater generated. For most city customers, the regulatory capital improvement compliance charge would be $15 a month for the rest of 2020 and $20 a month for 2021.

The $15 charge began in 2019, remained the same this year and bumps to $20 a month next year.

In the city legislation, that charge will drop to $9 a month through the end of 2021, for most residential customers.

The rates will be different for some customers based on usage.

The change is to go into effect July 1, so customers should see a drop in bills sent out in August, said Mayor Jack Bradley.

Council also reserved the right to review the sanitary sewer charges every year and adjust the rates if necessary.

For months, sewer customers inside Lorain and outside the city have complained about water and sewer charges.

Lorain’s elected officials have said they want to provide relief for the customers,

while balancing the need to raise money for regular maintenance and upgrades mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency at the state and federal levels.

Earlier this year, Council had two forms of legislation to lower the rates.

Councilwoman-at-Large Mary Springowski and Councilman-at-Large Mitch Fallis both proposed cuts to the sewer rates.

Fallis withdrew his proposal and said he changed his position because the

cuts in that legislation would have been too confusing for ratepayers.

Council listened to ratepayers’ concerns about high rates and did the homework to compare rates to other municipalities, then set Lorain rates in line with the customer requests, Fallis said after the meeting.

It is a good balance for Lorain to have a lower rate while keeping the city in compliance with regulations and making improvements to city infrastructure, he said.