Trending
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners today will discuss a resolution to combine seven water districts into one, resulting in the Trumbull County Combined Water District.
Sanitary Engineer Gary Newbrough said with the resolution, the Bazetta / Champion, Braceville Township, Howland, Mineral Ridge, Mosquito Creek, Southeast and Warren Township water districts would merge to form the combined district. Although all seven districts would combine if this resolution is approved, each will remain as a subdistrict.
All seven districts charge different rates for water.
The Howland water district has the lowest rate, charging residents $6.86 per 1,000 gallons. The Mosquito Creek water district has the highest rate at $9.56 per 1,000 gallons.
If the resolution is approved, the rates that each subdistrict pays for water would not change immediately but that may not always be the case. Denny Malloy, the only commissioner at the Tuesday board workshop, said if the resolution is approved, it could help the county continue to simplify the process by implementing a standardized rate for each subdistrict in the future.
"The water rates are going to stay the same," Malloy said. "Whatever they're paying now, in the existing district, the water rates are going to stay the same."
Malloy said the resolution would not change significantly how the water districts are operated, but the resolution would simplify the current setup.
"It's a name change," Malloy said. "It would bring all the districts under one umbrella. … Basically, instead of running seven businesses under one roof, they're all the same business, but there still would be the existing charges that they are used to paying."
Newbrough said if the resolution is approved, funds amassed from all seven subdistricts would be available to use throughout the combined district. This would allow for the county to disburse funds to areas that have more of a financial need.
"The main objective here is that you have seven existing financial water districts, some of them are having more financial difficulty than others," Newbrough said. "By combining financial resources from all seven (districts) into one, it is a lot easier to manage operation and maintenance costs.
"That'll help down the road too with cost-averaging some rates, too," he said. "Not to scare people. There are some people paying very low rates (and) some people paying high. Eventually, by blending together, we could come up with -- possibly, down the road -- one standardized rate to make it simpler for all of them."
Commissioner Niki Frenchko, who did not attend the workshop, later shared her concerns about the resolution, saying she did not want the county to subsidize the less-efficient and lower-performing districts.
NILES WATER
Also at Tuesday's workshop, an agenda item for today's meeting regarding the county's water service agreement with the city of Niles was discussed.
The agreement was executed July 2, 2003, and is set to expire July 1. If the agreement is approved, the county will renew its agreement with Niles for 10 years, with it expiring July 1, 2033.
The agreement would provide bulk water from the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District through Niles for the southeast public water system located in Brookfield, Hubbard, Liberty and Vienna townships.
One issue that Newbrough brought to Malloy's attention was a rate increase. Newbrough said that based on 2022 flow data, the county would owe Niles an additional $130,000 per year under the new agreement because of changes in how the city charges for the service.
Vienna Trustee Phil Pegg questioned if the county should be willing to pay the $130,000 upcharge. He previously has criticized MVSD's water quality.
Newbrough said the topic of water quality would be an issue to address with the MVSD as opposed to Niles.