COLUMBUS — Rate payers in the Mahoning Valley and elsewhere in Ohio may feel some financial relief from an effort that, for the first time, would allow communities to refinance big water and sewer projects.

The Ohio House unanimously approved a bill Thursday that allows communities with existing Ohio Water Development Agency loans for water and wastewater infrastructure projects to refinance them at lower rates.

Under existing law, these loans currently cannot be refinanced.

Trumbull County, for example, has 15 older OWDA loans that have interest rates averaging between 2 percent and 4 percent, according to Gary Newbrough, Trumbull deputy sanitary engineer. The combined total amount of these loans is $3.7 million.

The county took a $2.1 million OWDA loan in 2009 for a sewer project in east central Bazetta Township that had an annual rate of 3.76 percent.

“Reducing the interest rates of the loan by even 1 percent will generate a savings that could reduce how much rate payers pay,” Newbrough said. “Newer rates are currently around 1.1 percent.”

House Bill 264 passed by a vote of 85-0. The primary sponsors of the bill are state Reps. Michael O’Brien, D-Warren, and Shawn Wilkin, R-Hillsboro. This is the first legislation passed by the House for which O’Brien is a primary sponsor.

“This passed because it is a bipartisan bill that will benefit all communities and our constituents,” O’Brien said. “This passed overwhelmingly because regardless of where a community is located, this provides an opportunity for them to reap some financial savings through the refinancing of these loans.”

If approved by the Ohio Senate and signed by the governor, the legislation will enable communities with higher interest rate loans to refinance the loans — potentially lowering the amounts their rate payers must pay. The magnitude of any potential local savings will depend upon the terms of loan agreements.

There is no timetable for when the Ohio Senate will consider its version of the bill.

“It will not happen until sometime in 2020,” O’Brien said.

It authorizes the OWDA to issue bonds and notes for paying any part of the refinancing for one or more projects.

Current law allows the OWDA to make loans for the the acquisition or construction of facilities, but not for their refinancing.

The bill provides greater flexibility for OWDA to issue revenue bonds.

Franco Lucarelli, director of Warren’s Utilities Department, said the city has relatively few OWDA loans. It has a total debt service of about $2.1 million, but not all of its debts are OWDA loans.