CAMPBELL — Beginning this month, residents will notice slight rate increases on their garbage, sewer and water bills.

Specifically, garbage collection for this year will be $17.25 per month, up 75 cents from $16.50 in 2024, Mayor Bryan Tedesco said during his monthly town hall meeting Wednesday evening at the community center in Roosevelt Park.

George Levendis, city council president, has said that, despite yearly incremental increases, he hopes the garbage collection fees can remain under $20 per month for the life of the contract the city has with Republic Services. The contract between the two was renewed in January 2024 and extended until Jan. 1, 2028.

In addition, this year’s monthly sewer rate will be $16.30 per 1,000 gallons, a $1.35 increase from $14.95 last year, Tedesco said.

The fixed water rates from Aqua Ohio will reflect a 66-cent increase from $13.15 in 2024 to $13.81 this year, he added.

The water rate increase brings it into uniformity with Lowellville, Struthers, Boardman and other Mahoning County townships and municipalities, Tedesco noted.

In early 2020, Aqua Ohio paid $7.5 million for the aging Campbell water treatment plant, which had been built in the 1970s, and distribution system. The utility owns and operates the facility that provides water to the city’s estimated 8,000 residents.

Water rates had been locked in for five years through 2024.

Also during Wednesday’s one-hour session, the mayor announced that the city will run an ad in The Vindicator later this month stating that certain residents will be able to apply for the Community Housing Impact and Preservation program, which provides grants to local governments for improvements to affordable housing.

The Ohio Department of Development administers the federally funded CHIP program, which aims to take a communitywide approach toward improving such housing for people with low to moderate incomes, as well as strengthen neighborhoods via community collaboration.

Improvements can include new roofs, windows and water tanks, along with electrical upgrades and limited repairs, Phil Puryear, the local CHIP program’s director, noted.

To apply, homeowners have to be current on their income taxes and water bills, and they cannot have liens on their homes, Puryear said. He added that during the last grant period, 29 or 30 CHIP requests were received.

Mahoning County has about $1 million for its program – $300,000 each for Campbell and Struthers, as well as $400,000 for parts of Mahoning County outside of the city of Youngstown, which receives Housing and Urban Development dollars, he explained.

Campbell officials likely will have a meeting in mid- to late February and hear from the public before funds are released, perhaps in early March, Puryear said.

In other business, Tedesco said the city is continuing to secure funds for an access road connecting Blossom Avenue and state Route 616, the area in which he hopes a full-service grocery store will be built.

The mayor and Levendis also brought up plans for developing at least part of about 100 acres of brownfield property, 70 of which Levendis said remains contaminated and the remaining 30 suitable for building.

Beforehand, though, a gas line will need to be installed, at a cost Levendis estimated at $3 million. Also, the city likely will have to apply for millions in additional funds to clean and remediate the land, he said.

Tedesco and Levendis also warned people to refrain from leaving dogs and other pets in their vehicles during this spell of cold weather.