NORTH RIDGEVILLE — City Council approved a 25 percent increase in sanitary sewer charges at its meeting Monday night.

Council members said they regretted the fee hike, but saw no other option to keep the fund in the black and provide funds for repairs and emergen­cies.

The 25 percent rate hike looks to increase monthly sewer bills from $2.95 a month to $3.70 per 100 cubic feet of water used.

The average city household uses 600 cubic feet of water per month.

The rate hike is scheduled to take effect starting with bills going out later in the month.

“We’ll look to put this into effect as soon as possible to maximize collections, considering the fact the year is more than half over,” said Dennis Boose, D-2nd Ward, chairman of the Utilities Committee. “It’s not going to get better. To do nothing borders on financial malpractice.”

The increase was less than a 45 percent increase originally urged by a consulting firm that studied the city’s sanitary sewer system, according to Boose.

“They re-did their numbers based on some assumptions that were incorrect, including numbers of anticipated new homes being built,” he said.

The new fees are based on projections for 10,300-plus sewer connections, the anticipated construction of 230 new homes and the addition of 10 new businesses. The higher rate will be paid by both residential and business customers.

“No one wanted to do this, but the city doesn’t have any other choice,” said Robert Olesen, R-4th Ward.

“If we did nothing now, the situation would only get worse next year,” said Nancy Buescher, R-1st Ward.

“We don’t have the money for repairs and costs just keep going up for everything,” said Bernadine Butkowski, R-at large “Maybe next year we won’t have raise rates as much.”

The city always has tried to maintain a cash reserve for repairs and emergencies caused by flooding or sewer line breaks. The hike should help bring the reserve to nearly $500,000.

“We usually shoot for $1 million reserve,” Gillock said. “Traditionally, we’ve had almost $2 million in the pot.”

Costly repairs were needed following an extremely heavy storm in August 2005 that led to sanitary sewer lines backing up in some 1,400 homes.

In past years, the city approved rate increases of a few percent a year. But rates had not been raised from the mid-1990s till 2008 and four percent and 18 percent hikes went into effect, respectively.

“If that had been done, we wouldn’t be in this situation now,” Gillock said.

Sewer fund revenues are decreasing for a number of reasons, Gillock said. Residents are conserving more water and installing more “deduct” or outside water meters that subtract water used for lawns, gardens and swimming pools from sewer charges.

Higher-than-usual numbers of foreclosures and delinquencies also have lowered revenues.

“People lose their jobs or move away,” Gillock said. “They’re just not paying their bills.”

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

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