MANSFIELD — Eric Miller hopes to convince Mansfield voters in November to support an income tax increase to replace 53 miles of aging four-inch water lines around the city.
Based on reactions from several members of City Council on Tuesday night, Miller and supporters of the “Mansfield Water Main Initiative for Fire Safety” have their work cut out for them.
Not a single local lawmaker — scheduled to vote on June 20 whether to put the 1/4-percent income tax increase on the Nov. 7 ballot — expressed support for the proposal, which would generate between $17 and $18 million in the next four years.
Instead, during a public utilities committee meeting, council members expressed concerns about the timing of the proposal.
Miller’s citizen-initiative proposal comes just a few months after council approved adding a “readiness to serve” charge to local water bills in the hopes of generating enough money to maintain the water delivery system and begin the process of replacing lines.
That charge is estimated to generate about $2.7 million annually. 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.
“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.
The local attorney, who helped launch the successful “United Pothole Haters Tax” in 1984, said there are currently 2,400 addresses in the city “that are not within a reasonable distance” of properly working fire hydrants.
“We have got to have a faster start than 1 percent a year,” he said. “Our theme, our organization, the Mansfield Water Line Initiative, is to let the voters decide. Put it on the ballot and give us a chance to explain this to the voters and let’s let the voters decide.”
Bianchi told council it would cost $70 to $80 million to replace all of the four-inch water lines in the city, some of which are more than a century old.
Fourth Ward Councilman Alomar Davenport said he would vote to place the issue on the ballot, although he did not support it.
“We have not had the opportunity to collect any data in regard to how the increase that we’ve already done will address this particular issue,” Davenport said.
“I will vote yes to put it on the ballot, but I do believe this is premature. I believe we should have been waiting to see how our previous action impacts what we are trying to address.”
Second Ward Councilwoman Cheryl Meier said she shared Davenport’s concerns.
“I’m an elected official. I expect to get calls from people who have a variety of concerns. But when I get phone calls from people and they are crying on the phone because they don’t have enough money …
“They’re on a fixed income and they don’t have enough money to pay their water bill … it’s pay their water bill or get groceries … that’s a hard conversation to have with someone,” Meier said.
“I completely understand, Mr. Miller, what you are saying about the need for this. There’s no doubt we absolutely (need it). This is something that needs to be addressed. I do hesitate doing it right now … two months, three months into a water hike. I hesitate doing it this soon,” Meier said.
Third Ward Councilman Rev. El Akuchie also expressed reservations.
“It was not long ago that we made that decision to raise that money (through the readiness to serve charge) because of my understanding was that we’re going to use some money there (for water mains). It’s (been) maybe about two months at most. And we have not really addressed that,” Akuchie said.
“I would say it’s pretty premature.”
Akuchie asked if every cent raised from the tax, if approved by voters, would be used for water line replacements.
Miller assured him the ballot language would restrict the funds for that work, just as the “United Pothole Haters Tax” is used only for road repairs.
Sixth Ward Councilwoman Kimberly Moton said she would vote to put the issue on the ballot, but didn’t know if she would vote for it in November.
“As far as allowing our citizens to make that decision, I think it is is something that we should do. Whether I vote for it in November, I don’t know yet, but I would like to allow the residents to have a say,” Moton said.
Miller told council to put the proposed tax increase into perspective.
“If you make $40,000 a year, that quarter of a percent income tax is going to cost you $100 a year. That’s $2 a week — and that $2 a week might just be what’s needed to save your house or your neighbor’s house.
“So a quarter of a percent needs to be put in perspective against what it costs when businesses get shut down … what it costs when someone loses their home and all their belongings because firefighters have to run 700 (feet), 1,000 feet of hose to get to the fire.
“Those things need to be weighed and I’m sure in time you’ll weigh it, as will the voters and we’ll see what they decide,” Miller said.
Four residents spoke in favor of the proposal during the public participation portion of the meeting.
One of those urging support was local businessman Rick Taylor, a third-generation industrial entrepreneur and current owner of Hudson & Essex fine dining in downtown Mansfield.
“If you look around the city of Mansfield, you see the gas company. They’re working in every neighborhood, replacing all the gas lines. If you look at the electric utilities, you see Ohio Edison out putting up new lines all the time.
“If you look at the City of Mansfield, you see them plugging holes in the old pipes all the time,” Taylor said.
He said Hudson & Essex has been without water three times in the past two years. He said at his former company, Jay Plastics, the manufacturer would lose water service four times a year.
“It’s a real problem … if we want to look like a third-world country because we don’t want to invest in our infrastructure. You’re inheriting what everybody pushed back,” said Taylor, inducted into the North Central State College Hall of Excellence in 2011 and into the North Central Ohio Industrial Museum’s Champions of Industry Hall of Fame in 2021.
“Nobody put money into this system for years and years and years and we’re all stuck with it. We have got do something. We cannot keep kicking that can down the road.”
