MANSFIELD — Dan Hardwick stood on the City of Mansfield plaza on Wednesday afternoon and looked at a couple of time capsules just a few yards away.
He referenced those capsules during a press conference arranged to support a four-year, 1/4 percent income tax increase on the Nov. 7 ballot, a proposal aimed at beginning the process of replacing 53 miles of aging, four-inch water mains.
“We’re running out of time to save people’s lives and we never know when it’s gonna be too late,” the former Richland County commissioner said in front of the familiar clock tower on the plaza.
“On the other side of the plaza, you’ve got some time capsules by leaders of our past who had a vision for a better community.
“We’re standing here on their foundation,” Hardwick said, indicating it’s time for current residents to step up to provide for the current and future water needs of the city.
“The annoying truth is that now is the time that we need a small tax to save our long-neglected water infrastructure for both safety and community economic development,” Hardwick said.
The Mansfield Water Main Initiative is a citizen-led drive led by Mansfield attorney Eric Miller.
It was Miller who helped create the successful “Pothole Haters Tax” in the city in 1984, an effort that has been renewed every four years since its inception and is responsible for annual paving road paving efforts around the city
‘I didn’t realize we in Mansfield had such a problem’
Hardwick followed Mansfield resident Rick Crusoe, another of the committee members pushing for the tax’s approval.
“I’m glad to be able to represent this momentous occasion for this water main initiative. This is a big thing. I didn’t realize that we in Mansfield had such a problem with the infrastructure.
Crusoe said there are 385 hydrants in the city that cannot function properly due to the small, old water lines, some of which are a century old.
He also spoke about businesses and residents in the city who lose water supply frequently due to water mains breaking.
Miller arranged the Wednesday event and invited anyone who opposes the increase to attend and participate.
No one stepped forward when Miller called on them Wednesday.
“We’ve invited our opponents to come and have time to express opposition. So anyone here in opposition?” he asked.
“That’s typical,” he said when no one spoke up.
“We were hoping they would express opposition because we feel we could demolish their arguments. But that’s typical of opposition to something like this. They’re a no-show when they’re invited to speak and be heard,” Miller said.
Tax would generate $17 to $18 million over four years
The new tax, if approved, would generate $17 to $18 million over its four-year life span.
It would be enough to start the effort to help solve a lack of fire hydrant water pressure due to inadequate water lines, which affects 2,400 addresses in the city.
When City Council approved a “readiness to serve” charge earlier this year, Mansfield city engineer Bob Bianchi said about $850,000 of that could go to water main replacement, about 1 percent of the city’s water lines annually.
Bianchi told council at the same meeting that it will cost between $70 and $80 million to replace all of the four-inch water mains in the city, some of which are more than a century old.
“So that means (it would take) 100 years to take care of 60 miles of water main that are a problem right now. That kind of gradualism … it just isn’t going to work,” Miller told council in obtaining approval from lawmakers to put the income tax issue on the ballot.
Miller has said retired residents living on Social Security or pension benefits will not pay more if the proposal is approved.
Organizers said 1/3 of income taxes in the city are paid by people who live outside the city, but work within it.
“If you make $40,000 a year, this plan will cost you $2 per week,” Miller said previously. “If you make $100,000, it will cost $5 per week.”
He said for those working part-time, “every time you make $20, it will cost you a nickel.”
The longtime local attorney said it’s impossible to determine the cost of a human life that may be lost in a fire when the MFD struggles with unreliable hydrants.
“If I tried to pass a law that said firefighters responding to an alarm must sit in their vehicles for three minutes before leaving the fire station, people would say I am crazy.
“There are 2,400 structures around the city that may just as well have that three-minute delay while firefighters find a way to get water at the scene of a fire,” Miller said.
Playing Russian Roulette with the water supply
“I hear it a lot from people who say they support the proposal, but ‘the timing isn’t right.’ This work wasn’t done long ago because the timing has never been right.
“We have a big problem, but it’s buried underground and it doesn’t become urgent until your house or business is on fire or a broken old water main interrupts the water supply,” Miller said previously.
“We are forcing residents to play Russian Roulette with their water supply,” he said. “If people are tired of hearing about (water), it’s better to hear about it than have to go without it.”
“Anyone who is rational and gets informed will strongly be in favor of voting for this tax,” Miller said.
