MANSFIELD — Will they or won’t they?
Vote on a water rate increase, that is.
Mansfield City Council began discussing water rate hikes four months ago.
It has scheduled — and then postponed — three votes on the issue, dating back to Dec. 6.
It has gotten feedback from constituents and city administration leaders like engineer Bob Bianchi and Finance Director Linn Steward.
It has successfully amended the proposal in a way that would eliminate about 20 percent of the proposed additional revenue — saving local residents about $680,000 annually.
All that’s left is a vote, which is scheduled Tuesday evening.
Mayor Tim Theaker’s administration originally said the changes to the city’s water ordinance are needed to ensure its water distribution system via hikes aimed to generate an additional $3.4 million annually.
The additional revenue would have been created by eliminating the lowest “usage tier” and by adding something the city has dubbed a “readiness to serve” charge that every user will be assessed.
At its most recent meting in January, local lawmakers amended the proposal.
At this point, the ordinance would keep the lowest usage tier and add only the readiness to serve charge, which is projected to generate about $2.7 million in additional water fund revenue each year.
Bianchi has repeatedly met with council since October and made the case for the increases.
He has said the hikes are needed to fund an annual water main replacement program around the city and other capital improvements needed to ensure water flow.
Without the increase, Bianchi told council on Dec. 6 there is no water infrastructure capital budget.
“I have the capital improvements (list) we hope to have done. It’s not a wish list, it’s a need. So I would say that if you plan on not passing this or you plan on reducing it, I would like council to look at this and tell us what we’re not gonna fund,” he said in December.
“Yes, this is a very difficult decision. But at the same time, we have got to say, if these rates don’t increase, there’s certain things that will not happen. And I think the public needs to know that.”
Steward presented financial data on the city’s water fund, including a 10-year history from 2013 to 2022 and a five-year forecast from 2023 to 2027.
Her numbers showed water revenues have climbed since a citywide water-meter replacement program began in 2019, coupled with already-approved annual rate increases which began to take effect in 2022.
Water rates jumped 10 percent in 2022. They are increasing 15 percent more in 2023 and 10 percent more in 2024. Rates will increase 3 percent annually thereafter unless council makes changes.
According to Steward, the water department took in $380,646 more than it spent in 2022 and began 2023 with a $3.88 million cash balance.
She forecasts water fund deficits in 2023, 2024 and 2025, as projected expenses outstrip growing revenues, largely due to big-ticket capital projects in 2024 and 2025.
But her forecast then projects the tide to turn in 2026 and 2027 as revenues advance past expenses, even including more than $2.1 million annually in bond debt to pay back a $35 million water treatment plant note and a $17 million bond for the water meter replacement effort.
That annual bond debt declines to about $1.6 million each year after 2029 when the water meter bond is paid off, according to Steward. The water treatment plant bond annual payment will continue until 2060, she said.
Her numbers showed the water fund took in $7.4 million in 2013 and she projects it will have almost doubled by 2027 at $14.1 million.
“I’m just wondering if we need a whole $3.4 million, which is the proposed water-rate increase?” Steward told council. “Could we get by with just a million, or a million and a half, and see how that goes for four or five years?
“That’s my proposal that would reduce the load on the customers.”
Also on Tuesday, City Council is scheduled to:
— vote on a $78,600 contract with 12 Point Consulting, LLC, to provide Ohio EPA-mandated Class IV water supply certified operation services at the city’s water treatment plant. Funds for the contract will come from the water fund and the water treatment plan contractual services line item.
— vote on a resolution supporting Ohio’s application to receive funding from the “Corridor Identification Program.”
The program could eventually lead to Amtrak providing new passenger rail service throughout the state. One proposed new route from Cleveland to Columbus to Dayton to Cincinnati would include a train stop in nearby Crestline.
The federal government has offered the state full funding to determine see if such passenger service is feasible, but the state must apply for it before March 20.
— vote to accept a $21,000 grant from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services to be used for a new officer recruitment campaign to fill current and anticipated vacancies in the Mansfield Police Department.
— vote to accept a $173,000 grant from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services to be used for the second-year renewal costs of the city’s ShotSpotter gunshot detection program and its license plate reader camera program.
— appropriate $1,335 to upgrade city IT equipment to ensure council sessions are private and secure when someone participates in an executive session via Zoom.
— approve the trade-in of “unneeded, obsolete or unfit” METRICH Enforcement Unit equipment. The trade-in will create a $1,700 credit that will be used for updated covert operation equipment, which will cost $4,275 after the credit is applied.
— vote to allow Public Works Director Dave Remy to enter into a contract for architectural and engineering services for improvements to the city’s Municipal Building. The bulk of the funds the work will come from the city’s share of the American Rescue Plan Act revenue replacement dollars.
In April 2022, council approved spending $3.75 million to renovate the Municipal Building and repair the foundation in the front of the structure.
