HOWLAND — The potential water rate increase was on everyone’s mind as township officials met Monday evening with the sanitary engineer and commissioners to hear information and understand the motivation for it.

Bazetta Trustee Michael Hovis prefaced Monday’s meeting by explaining that his phone was “ringing off the wall” with concerns from residents about what the proposed increase means for them.

Bob Maiorano, comptroller at the county’s sanitary department, presented trustees with a printed-out slideshow explaining how things have changed over the past decade.

Maiorano explained that while the sanitary engineer’s office is a government entity that provides water to the county’s users, it’s not taxpayer-funded or a political entity, meaning that its funding depends solely on its users.

“Our public water systems are not based on geographical locations, so Howland — which there’s a lot of discussion about how much the rate can go up — our home public water system only serves about 25% of Howland Township within Howland Township lines,” Maiorano said. “We have people with city of Warren water, they have city of Niles water, they have wells.”

He explained that their office hasn’t had any rate increases in more than a decade, with the last one coming in 2011.

The previous county commissioners approved a rate study in 2017, Maiorano said, but it wasn’t completed until 2021 with MS Consultants, which had rates set to increase in 2022 as the office saw its first net loss in 2019. However, the increase was never placed on the agenda.

Maiorano explained that at the end of 2024, the department’s cash balance was $645,715. By Monday, it was at $227,274 with a first quarter month loss of $418,441 — an average monthly loss of $139,333, he said.

Maiorano highlighted some of the biggest changes to their expenses from 2015 to 2024 — namely bulk water, which went from $3.1 million to $4.9 million.

Gary Newbrough, head of the county sanitary / sewer department, explained the increase was what they were paying to the cities — Warren, Niles and Newton Falls.

Newbrough explained that places like Niles and McDonald are able to buy from the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District (MVSD) at their rate, which they can sell to Trumbull County.

“First they’re (Niles) going to supply their own citizens with it; so, the Niles rate is going to include that bulk water rate paid to the MVSD,” Newbrough said. “Plus, their cost to operate and maintain their system in the city of Niles.”

Newbrough said they don’t buy water from McDonald, only the cities of Youngstown and Niles.

“They have to take that bulk water rate they pay the MVSD and calculate that into their range,” he said. “And then they buy it off of them and they need to mark that (the rates) up.”

Using Niles as an example, Newbrough said they get water for the Southeast District at 88% of their inside rate — which means their office is getting it cheaper than Niles residents because they’re buying water in bulk.

Newbrough said the rates are based on agreements they make with each city, which normally last 20 years and can increase the rate to his office without affecting the city’s residents.