WARREN — Some Liberty water customers pay the second-highest water rates in the state, and although Trumbull County commissioners sought a study to propose solutions, they now say only a legislative fix can do the trick.

Commissioners and the county sanitary engineer’s office are expected to coordinate a meeting with Liberty Township representatives and state lawmakers in the Mahoning Valley to discuss a legislative solution to the law that allows multiple surcharges to be tacked onto utility bills as the water changes hands through multiple communities.

State law allows a 40 percent surcharge any time an entity sells water outside its limits, so the charges can be stacked if the water travels through multiple sources.

Water is shuffled through pipes owned by numerous other entities, each tacking on a surcharge, leaving the residents of Liberty to pay some of the highest rates in the county and state.

While Trumbull County water customers pay $8.22 per thousand gallons used, about 1,500 people in Liberty who buy their water from Girard have to pay $17.35 per thousand gallons used.

Girard buys its water from outside sources that upcharge the city, too. Its residents pay $12.39 per thousand gallons used.

Economic development officials in the last few years have said that the practice, though perfectly legal, can be a deterrent to economic development activity.

Read more in Sunday’s Tribune Chronicle.