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WARREN -- Newton Falls is willing to pay the $3.2 million cost to provide a sanitary sewer line for residents living on Scott Street in Newton Township if Trumbull County commissioners set aside $900,000 to pay for the residential hookups for property owners along the sewer line.
Newton Falls will be able to pay for the cost for the project due to its obtaining a $2.6 million fully forgivable loan from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and a $850,000 Ohio Public Works grant, according to Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer Gary Newbrough.
The long-delayed sewer project is required to be done as part of a consent decree between the county and the Ohio EPA.
Efforts to get the sewer line built were stopped in 2014 after area residents refused to accept paying front foot assessments of $79.23. It has been on hold since that time.
Newbrough on Tuesday told Commissioners Denny Malloy and Mauro Cantalamessa during a weekly work session he will apply for American Rescue Plan Act funds to to pay for the connections.
Commissioner Niki Frenchko, who did not attend Tuesday's meeting, on Wednesday asked for the commissioners to set aside $850,000 of ARP funds for the project.
Cantalamessa reminded the commissioner that Newton Falls officials said they would not do the project for less than $900,000.
Frenchko said the commissioners should prioritize this project because it will allow them to complete a consent decree project.
Commissioners will have a meeting 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in their meeting room and another at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Trumbull County Agricultural Building, 520 W Main St., Cortland, about ARP funding requests.
The county received approximately $38 million in ARP funds. Malloy said there is an estimated $15 million remaining.
Malloy and Frenchko each have said the wanted between $7.5 million and $7 million of the remaining funds to be put toward the county's villages and townships.
Based on his understanding of the remaining dollars, Malloy estimates the county can distribute approximately $300,000 to each of the county's townships and villages.
He expressed concern if the county guarantees the $900,000 for the Scott Street sewer project, other Trumbull communities could be short changed in the amount of ARP fund they may be able to receive.
"We will know exactly how much we have allocated and how much we have remaining," Malloy said.
Newton Falls Council initially requested $1 million for the lateral connections.
Newton Falls officials estimated there are 113 residential households on Scott Street that could be connected to the proposed sewer line.
Newbrough, however, estimated the number households in the area that would qualify for assistance under programs available to the county likely would be closer to 80.
Newton Falls Councilman John Baryak said county commissioners were speaking to their legal counsel about the Scott Street sewer project and what the village can do to help Newton Township with it.
"We want to see this project move forward. We would like to pick up 112 customers. We want to clean the river up so it is not a sewer," he said.
Baryak said a meeting will be 6 p.m. today at the village municipal building for residents who want to learn more about the next phase of the project and what the fees will be.
Under a county program, applicants to the program must be home owners, the property owners have to be current on their property taxes, and they have to fall under specific income requirements.
Reporter Bob Coupland contributed to this story.