Struthers renews $3 fee

By William K. Alcorn

Struthers renews $3 fee

Proponents say the fee is needed in case of repairs or new mandates by the EPA.

STRUTHERS — Homeowners will once again be paying a $3 per month debt service to finance the city’s storm water management program, effective April 1, and that’s no April Fools’ joke.

The controversial fee, eliminated by the previous council in June 2007, but re-established by the new council Wednesday by a 4-2 vote, will be used to create a fund for repairs and improvements to the city’s waste treatment facility.

Proponents, including Mayor Terry Stocker, have said the fee is needed in case of repairs or new mandates by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Opponents, including Councilman at-large Daniel Yemma and Councilwoman Sherri Hartzell, D-1st, said the additional fee is not yet needed.

There is currently about $700,000 in the debt service fund and $300,000 is proposed in the 2008 budget, Yemma said. “I think $1 million is enough of a reserve,” he said.

Hartzell said she wanted to wait a year and see if the fee is needed, and would have been more comfortable with a $1.50 fee.

Councilman Robert D. Carcelli III, D-4th, who voted for the new fee, said that as a new councilman he would take the advice of the city engineering firm, MS Consultants, the mayor, and waste treatment plant manager, who advocated for the fee.

In its report, MS Consultants offered four options: Do nothing, pay current debt only, and the fund will be depleted in 2015; do nothing, pay debt on current and proposed projects, and the fund will be depleted in 2010; with $100,800 a year going to the sinking fund from a $2 monthly debt-service fee, and paying debt on current and proposed projects, the fund would have a reserve balance of $400,000 to $600,000; and with $151,200 a year going to the sinking fund from a $3 monthly debt-service fee, and paying debt on current and proposed projects, the reserve fund would be between $650,000 and $1.5 million.

alcorn@vindy.com