Water, wastewater, storm water, municipal fee could go up

The Ironton City Council is considering raising several municipal fees.

On Thursday evening, the council had first readings on four ordinances.

Ordinance 18-46 would increase the municipal fees by $4 to $18 and the money from  that would be used only for flood control. The city is facing issues in the flood defense system, including having old pump stations and that is it increasingly hard to find parts to fix them if something breaks.

Ordinance 18-47 would increase the monthly water fee by 60 cents to $6.39 per thousand gallons. Ordinance 18-48 would increase the wastewater fee by $1.50 to $9.70 per thousand gallons. Ordinance 18-48 would increase the monthly storm water fee by 80 cents to $3.80 per thousand gallons. The ordinance reads that the increases are needed “in order to continue the water fund on a solvent basis.”

All four ordinances were sent to the Public Utility Committee for discussion. The committee will have a meeting at 5 p.m. on Oct. 11, an hour before the regular council meeting.

The city council also considered Resolution 18-45, which authorizes the mayor to submit an application to participate in the Ohio Public Works Commission State Capital Improvement and/or local transportation improvement program to get funds to pave roads in Ironton.

Mayor Katrina Keith said that the project would be done on roads in the downtown area to piggyback on a Park Avenue paving project that will be done by the Ohio Department of Transportation.

“It will give us a bigger bang for our buck,” she told the council.

ODOT hasn’t schedule the Park Avenue project yet. The ordinance was passed by the council.

At 7 p.m., the council went into executive session to discuss Ordinance 18-44, which was about executing an agreement with Skeens Excavating to build a bicycle and trails project.

The trails began in 2012 and ODOT will pay 80 percent of the $1 million cost and the city would pay 20 percent and then be reimbursed by an Ohio Department of Natural Resources grant. But the city has to get money upfront to pay their part and needs to take out a short-term loan to do that. The city would be reimbursed after the construction company is paid.

The ordinance was passed when the council came out of executive session, as was Ordinance 18-44, which allows the city to get a loan for the project.

Another ordinance, 18-43, which established penalties for fire code violations, was given second and third readings and passed unanimously.

The council meets on the third floor of the City Center on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month.