WARREN — It’s been years since Liberty resident Stephan Stoyak and former Liberty Trustee Jodi Stoyak first raised questions about the higher-than-most water rates some 1,500 metered customers in the township are subject to.

If Trumbull County commissioners vote “yes” today on a proposed agreement with the water provider — the city of Girard — the residents could be locked for 20 years with no relief.

While the county owns the water infrastructure, an agreement with Girard gives the city the ability to use the lines to deliver and sell water. Temporary extensions of previous agreements have been used in hopes time would offer some other solution.

Stephan Stoyak on Tuesday at their workshop questioned commissioners about signing the contract. He said his residence is a stone’s throw away from people who pay nearly $10 less per 1,000 gallons of water used.

The water travels through several hands before it gets to Girard and the 1,500 Liberty customers, tacking on upcharges as it travels from suppliers. Girard adds a 40 percent surcharge, too.

These Liberty water customers pay the second-highest water rates in the state because they are subjected to several layers of upcharging.

County customers pay $8.22 per 1,000 gallons, Girard residents pay $12.39 per 1,000 gallons and the 1,500 liberty residents pay $17.35 per 1,000 gallons.

Stoyak asked what guarantee the county has that the rate won’t increase even more.

Matt Blair, an attorney for the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer’s Department who worked on negotiations with the city, said the city would not budge on the 40 percent upcharge.

Blair said in negotiations the city outlined some improvement projects it has taken on and will take on for the aging infrastructure, but the county was not given a set capital improvement plan and the work isn’t included in the proposed contract.

The contract is largely the same, but with an addition. If both the county and the city want to cut the agreement short, and all parties agree, the contract can be ended early.

But the contract doesn’t give the option for the county to pull out of the 20-year agreement if the city doesn’t want to.

Commissioners Mauro Cantalamessa and Frank Fuda said Stoyak raised some good points about the agreement, and they may hold off on signing it. Commissioner Niki Frenchko was absent.

Cantalamessa said he doesn’t like the idea of the opt-out clause being contingent on both parties agreeing to it.

Stoyak also questioned why the water contract — a topic of discussion for some time now — is being pushed through at the same time the county and the city are signing a wastewater treatment agreement too.

And, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments is conducting a utility study on the Mahoning Valley. The study was suggested, in part, because of the situation in Liberty. One of the goals is looking into regional solutions. Stoyak said it doesn’t make sense to give up and continue with the same agreement that leaves Liberty residents paying much higher rates than their neighbors, with no real opt-out clause and no solution.

“What would happen if in five years all county water (and) sewer providers joined a newly formed regionalized district; with the exception of the city of Girard? Liberty water rate payers and county sewer rate payers would still be stuck in the same position as before,” Stoyak states in an email to commissioners following the meeting.

Stoyak suggested holding off on the water contract to see figures from the city detailing their capital improvement plans and their justification for the high rate the Liberty customers pay.

“Please carefully consider these issues. If the motions need to be tabled for a few weeks in order to get these issues addressed, it would make county users and township users know that at least commissioners have their best interest at heart,” Stoyak states.