MOUNT VERNON – News of a recent Mount Vernon City Council proposal may have inspired sticker shock among some residents.
As the Mount Vernon News reported on Dec. 15, the City Council is floating a measure that would raise average monthly water bills by $3 beginning next year. The idea sounds affordable enough — until it’s projected over three years.
In that timeframe, it’s a whopping 45% increase over what customers are paying today.
Councilmember Tanner Salyers said that when customers are used to the same billing amount for years and suddenly the charge increases annually, it is not easily accepted.
The city hasn’t changed its rates since 2017 when a 42% rate hike was imposed, the first increase since 2013.
“I would say this: if we had instituted 3% increases 20 years ago, we probably wouldn't be in this situation,” said Richard Dzik, Mount Vernon Safety-Service director.
Most customers currently pay $19.60 for using the minimum of almost 3,000 gallons of water monthly. They would pay $22.56 in 2021, City Engineer Brian Ball said. The ordinance proposes three years of 15% rate hikes, increasing the monthly minimum in 2022 to $25.52. In 2023 it would be $28.92.
The city needs the rate increase to repair and replace its aging wastewater infrastructure and fund capital projects mandated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Ball said. During 2020, the city has had 57 sewer backups, and 119.7 miles of sanitary lines require improvements. The wastewater treatment plant’s digesters, which break down organic waste, are about to fail.
The ordinance requires an evaluation by council in three years.
“It does give us the opportunity to make sure that we’re constantly evaluating the rates,” Dzik said.
It also keeps the city from digging itself into the hole it has been doing over the last 20 years.
Capital improvement project costs will rise to $6 million in 2022, but the city gets $3 million in annual revenue, with $1 million of that used to pay down debt.
Bruce Malik, a retired attorney who has lived in Mount Vernon since 1977, believes this is a bad time to enact a hefty rate increase.
“It is being passed in the darkness of COVID,” he told the Mount Vernon News. “Because of COVID, it’s a terrible economic situation. People are literally trying to make sure they can keep their roofs over their heads, and the city is reaching into their pockets at a time when they can least afford it.”
Part of the proposal would also remove the senior discount for customers 65 and older. Councilmember John Francis asked if this was limited to wastewater customers.
Ball said that as written, the ordinance being read would include 1,194 water accounts. Councilmember Tammy Woods amended the ordinance to remove that section.
“I just want to make sure I’m hearing things right,” Francis said. “Because I’m not against the increase. I’ve heard these nightmare stories since I’ve been on council of the sickening decay of our infrastructure under our feet.”
Public Utilities Director Mathias Orndorf’s planned retirement in the middle of 2021 has the city considering a second assistant director, in order to have properly certified water and wastewater operators to avoid EPA penalties.
