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STEUBENVILLE -- Utilities Director Jim Jenkins warned council Tuesday the days when they could kick the can down the road to avoid hiking water and wastewater rates are long past.
Jenkins said without a significant influx of revenue, wastewater could slide into the danger zone, while the water department's fiscal recovery is fragile. Both departments have a long list of improvements that must be made, including upgrades needed to comply with environmental mandates and consent decrees.
He said the 3% rate increases and $1-per-service infrastructure fees taking effect in October are critical to maintaining operations and meeting those ever-tightening environmental requirements.
"There are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to future EPA requirements on both the wastewater and water sides," Jenkins said after the meeting. "We are making progress on the water side, but there is still a significant amount of work ahead of us. With the water treatment plant project now moving forward, our focus will increasingly turn toward the distribution system: We currently have approximately 98.5 miles of water lines that will ultimately need to be replaced, so there is a substantial amount of work ahead of us.
"On the wastewater side, we are continuing to work on the treatment plant while also addressing issues throughout the collection system. However, many of those projects and decisions are dependent on Ohio EPA requirements and approvals, which makes it difficult to determine exactly what our long-term needs and costs will be at this point," he said.
Council members, however, voiced concern over the impact the upcoming increases will have on residents, particularly seniors living on a fixed income.
"I understand everything’s expensive, but there’s people saying (they'll have) to choose between the water bill and their medications," Councilman-at-large Joel Walker said. "I’m getting phone calls and people complaining about it, we've got to address it somehow."
Jenkins said the departments can operate "with whatever funds we have, it's you all's decision to make and my job is to try and come here and inform you on what the future holds. I think I’ve tried to do that, to let you guys know what we’re facing in future."
"We’ve seen where the past has gotten us," Jenkins added. "Instead of raising (rates) a little each time, in 2018 you had to do a massive hike, and everybody is going to complain about it, and rightfully so. But if that increase was built in over the years, we could have gotten a lot of things done instead of starving the systems because there was no money."
Councilwoman Heather Hoover suggested they at least look at adjusting the minimum billing for seniors on a fixed income and asked the department to calculate how many seniors currently use less than the minimum bill.
"Maybe (we could make it that) after you hit a certain age, you only pay X amount of dollars for your water bill," Walker said. "I know other places do that. That's the reason I wanted to have this meeting was to discuss moving forward on stuff like that ... because for people on a fixed income who only get X amount of dollars a month, that 3% raise every year punishes them. I’ve had people tell me that if the rates keep going up, they are going to leave the city because they can’t afford it."
Councilman Tracy McManamon agreed, saying "seniors are getting crushed" and said they need to look at ways to reduce the sting. "We need an increase, I get that with all the projects we need to do, but we need to ... do something for seniors on fixed income ..."
Jenkins said they "understand the financial hardships our residents are facing and recognize the impact utility rates have on their households and livelihoods."
"We are residents and utility customers as well, so these increases affect us, too," he said. "Our goal is to accomplish as much as we can while minimizing the financial impact on our residents, but finding that balance is difficult."
Before decisions are made, he said, they need "a better understanding of our long-term capital needs before making additional changes to the rate structure."
"Once our plans for the next five years are completed, we can re-evaluate the rates and rate structure based on the actual projects and investments that will be required," he said. "At that point, we can determine what level of rates is necessary to fund those needs while also considering potential grant funding. However, we cannot assume that grant funding will always be available or that we will receive every grant we pursue."
He said the goal is to "make responsible decisions based on the information we have, protect the financial stability of the utilities, and at the same time be mindful of the financial burden placed on the residents we serve."
City Manager Mike Johnson, meanwhile, said they also have to contend with a sanitation department on the brink of insolvency. He said he asked the city's finance director, Dave Lewis, to calculate how big a rate jump they'd need for sanitation to break even and the answer wasn't pretty: $9.20.
"And the reason why is because council 10 or 12 years ago took money (from sanitation, which was healthy at the time) to give to water, but that was never supposed to stay (on the books)," Johnson said. "Council thought at some point it would be raised but they never did. And based on Dave's projections for the sanitation fund, in 2028 it's going to be below the minimum balance and council will have to do something--and the longer you wait, the more you have to raise it."
City officials, meanwhile, indicated they're going all in on efforts to convince the National High School Football Hall of Fame Committee to choose Steubenville as its base.
Mayor Ralph Petrella said Steubenville is one of four finalists for the hall, which he said would be a major boost to the community in terms of tourism and development opportunities.
Council also sunshined legislation supporting the National High School Hall of Fame "and their interest in coming to our city."
"Steubenville is surrounded by one of America's richest football traditions," he said. "Our own history, including Steubenville Big Red, Harding Stadium and Hall of Fame inductee Coach Reno Saccoccia, reflects the kind of tradition the National High School Football Hall of Fame exists to preserve and celebrate. We believe that Steubenville offers something special: The Hall of Fame would not simply be located in our city, it would become part of our community."
Council also passed the third reading of an ordinance authorizing the police department's continued use of license plate reading, or "Flock" cameras, by a 6-1 vote.
Councilman Royal Mayo, the lone nay vote, said he's already circulating a petition to force a voter referendum.
Also approved was a conveyance agreement with the Jefferson County Port Authority to effectuate the sale of the "Moose building lots" on S. 4th Street to East YYZ Realty Co., the real estate arm of Oyo Brewing Co.
City officials said the agreement will "promote economic development with the city."
Resolutions were presented to the family of the late JoJo Pierro, longtime educator and coach who died unexpectedly just weeks after his retirement, and to former Wastewater Superintendent Chuck Murphy, a 32-year city employee.
Franciscan University of Steubenville officials also were on hand to discuss the school’s economic impact.