Engineering Director Brian Ball told City Council last week an engineering study will be required to develop a plan to rehabilitate the water plant to enable the city to apply for an Ohio EPA grant/loan combination to get lower interest rates.
Ball said they would see a line item in next year’s budget of up to $250,000 to pay for the engineering study.
The EPA requires the city to provide a decision-making document that shows alternatives on how the plant would be rehabilitated, he said.
Paying cash for the work instead of seeking loans and grants would be quicker, he said.
“If we were paying cash 100%, the engineering process would probably be a year less and a lot simpler,” Ball said. “But if we want to use Ohio EPA money, which is by way federal money, we have to follow some of the federal process, which involves doing these documenting our decisions and justifying those.”
He said he’s sure that the council also would want to see the justification for the decisions.
Ball explained where this study’s funding fits in his department’s budget after Councilmember Mike Hillier’s questions on whether this was additional funding to the usual funding. He said working with Utilities Director Tom Marshall, they are slowing down water line replacement work. The city had been replacing a mile of water line per year.
“We're going to slow down some of our system work and then put more effort toward the plant," he said. "So you [will] probably see a smaller request for engineering for the water system."
Hillier said he watched the Utility Commission’s last meeting and saw that a water rate hike is being considered and a sewer rate hike is already set to begin.
Ball confirmed the hike was being considered but said a tapping fee increase is being studied and that study would be presented at the next Utility Commission meeting.
“We want to ensure that the future developments are paying their fair share,” he said.
The study is a deep dive into the records of what it will cost to replace the plant, and will consider if a new development comes in and adds 1,000 units of housing, what its buy-in would be, he said.
“How do they buy the capacity to make sure we can supply them and not have are all of us who are customers subsidize the developer?” Ball said.
Auditor Terry Scott has been working with them throughout these efforts, he said.
Ball confirmed a 5% rate hike would be sought, as anything less would not be enough.
