Mount Vernon City Council has joined 60 other Ohio municipalities in approving a resolution to challenge a tariff application by AT&T that would have shifted the cost of relocating utilities to local governments. After submitting the application on December 18, 2024, AT&T withdrew its request by January 17.
"If this goes through then the rest of the utilities will take part and Council our right of way is the biggest asset that we have that they are using already for profit. And so now what we have is them coming to us and saying if we make them use certain materials or if we make them do certain things they're going to charge us and the taxpayers to pay for it under this tariff revision," Mayor Matt Starr said, according to the January 13 meeting video.
According to the resolution attached to the minutes packet for the January 13 meeting, AT&T's Tariff Application proposed changes that would require any municipalities where AT&T is located in the public right-of-way to pay the full cost of any relocation or undergrounding of AT&T's facilities, regardless of the reason for relocation.
The resolution also indicated that AT&T's Tariff Application was subject to a 30-day auto-approval process. This meant that if the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) did not rule on the application, it would be automatically approved, and the tariff change would become effective on the 31st day after filing. Withdrawal of the application halted this process.
Starr said in the meeting video that if the issue were brought before the Ohio Supreme Court in a challenge by the Ohio Municipal League, that organization would ask its members, including Mount Vernon, to fund the legal challenge. He expressed concern from both city administration and the Ohio Municipal League that approval of AT&T's tariff application could lead other utilities to follow with similar applications.
