MEDINA COUNTY, Ohio. — The last thing Medina County residents said they want is for their bills to go up.
But that could happen if the Medina County Board of Commissioners votes to increase residents’ sanitary sewer and water rates.
“It doesn’t make sense,” said Angela Ventura. “It’s like there’s no end. I believe our elected officials aren’t doing a good job of providing oversight so that we as residents don’t keep getting hit and asked for more.”
During a public hearing at the Medina County Administration Building, Ventura and her Medina County neighbors spoke out against the sanitary engineering department’s proposed increases to sanitary sewer and water rates. “
I’m retired on a fixed income. That $100 is going to make a big difference,” said one resident.
If approved, the proposed sanitary sewer user rate could go up from $32.75 to $36 per equivalent residential unit (ERU) per month.
The sewer debt charge would increase from $11 to $16 ERU per month.
Meanwhile, the water user rate could go up from $10.50 to $12.50 cents per 1,000 gallons, and the water debt charge could increase from $10 to $13 per equivalent meter ratio (EMR) per month.
Sanitary Engineer Jeremy Sinko understands things are expensive enough.
But he said these changes are necessary to provide better service and more reliable water and wastewater treatment for the community.
“The operations for 515 miles of water main are not cheap and the same thing on the sanitary sewer side. We have 550 miles of sanitary sewer that require continual maintenance,” said Sinko. “Our wastewater plants and our water plants have aged and they’re 50 plus years old, and it’s getting to a point where we can’t just replace the items.”
“We’ve had a lot of these aging plants for a while. It sounds like 30 years, 50 years; why have we just now determined that we have to replace all of these things all at once?” asked one resident.
Before the Board of County Commissioners gets the final say, Sinko encourages people to come out to the last public hearing next Tuesday, October 13 at 8:30 a.m. in the Medina County Administration Building, room 201.
“We’re doing our best to try and manage the money and get every little penny we can out our dollar,” said Sinko. “If there is something that we can do to help alleviate some of these proposed increases by looking outside the box, these are all options that they will have me look into.”
“If they actually truly listen, I think they’ll realize people cannot afford this,” said Ventura.
