Sessions to present details on water plant referendum

Print Story

Email to Friend

Discuss this story

Voters are to decide if the plant will be sold to Aqua Ohio Inc.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

CAMPBELL — City residents who want to learn more about the municipal water treatment plant referendum on the Nov. 7 election ballot should stop by the city building at 5 p.m. today.

The city is having an informational meeting to review the proposed eventual sale of the facility to Aqua Ohio Inc.

City council had proposed completing the transaction nearly a year ago, but protests and a pair of lawsuits by a group of residents opposed to the plant's sale have delayed that plan.

Voters will get to decide if the agreement with Aqua should proceed.

Council passed an ordinance that calls for Aqua to take over management of the plant for 10 years and eventually take over ownership.

In exchange, the company will pay the city $3 million up front and $300,000 a year for 10 years. Aqua would put $100,000 a year into capital improvements and cover the $4.2 million in debt owed on the plant.

Further, Aqua will pay the cost of city employee salaries and benefits for the plant, which could be as much as $1 million a year.

At the end of 10 years, Aqua could take ownership of the plant at no additional cost.

What's behind this

Mayor John Dill said the sale is the city's best way to get out of debt and resolve its financial problems.

The deal also would also give Campbell money to put into economic development and capital improvements, he said.

"We can no longer afford to keep this plant," the mayor said, warning that, should the referendum fail and the sale not go through, Campbell residents are facing another substantial increase in their water bills.

The city had to increase bills in March, raising the debt service for capital improvements from $5 to $6.50 a month and the water usage part of the bill by 15 percent.

The average household, using 4,000 to 5,000 gallons a month, saw its monthly bill jump from about $25 to $30 a month.

The plant can produce 3 million gallons of water per day but is actually putting out only 1 million per day now. That's all that is needed, Dill said, noting the number of customers continues to drop annually. The city had 14,000 residents when the plant was built but has less than 9,000 today, the mayor added.

There have been suggestions that the city sell its water elsewhere to raise revenue, but that isn't possible, according to Dill, who pointed out that Youngstown has its own water plant and Aqua already supplies both Struthers and Lowellville and has the rights to sell in Coitsville as well.

There's no market for Campbell water in neighboring communities, he added.

The city has additional informational meetings on the issue scheduled for 5 p.m. Oct. 24 and 7 p.m. Nov. 2, both in the city building.

gwin@vindy.com

Tuesday, October 17, 2006