Ironton City Council will review an ordinance proposal that will freeze the city’s wastewater usage fees.

Thursday, March 08, 2001

Ironton City Council will review an ordinance proposal that will freeze the city’s wastewater usage fees.

At Thursday’s council meeting, Councilman Richard Price will propose Ordinance No. 01-10 which will freeze the wastewater usage fee if the wastewater fund shows a cash balance of $250,000 or more at the beginning of each new year.

Currently, city residents are paying $3.70 per 1,000 gallons of wastewater used. The wastewater fee is scheduled to increase 25 cents per 1,000 gallons of water used in January 2002, 20 cents per 1,000 gallons of water used in January 2003 and a 15 cents per 1,000 gallons used in both January 2004 and 2005. This total increase of 75 cents over the four-year period will bring the wastewater fee to a total of $4.45 per 1,000 gallons of water used by residents.

In the ordinance, Price proposes that $250,000 would maintain an "adequate level of funding to secure the quality of services for the citizens of Ironton."

Council will also vote on another ordinance requesting a meeting with ODOT and Baker & Associates regarding the location of the Ironton-Russell bridge.

Council chair Jim Tordiff said the he and council would like to meet with ODOT to stay involved and have input in the bridge placement decision. He said council has already passed legislation supporting plans to build the bridge close to its current location.

Tordiff said, "I feel strongly that the bridge needs to go in downtown Russell. It’s vital to our business community. Some of the other proposals could take away business and we can’t afford to lose more business."

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