As it stands now, the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer’s Office will not be able at tap into a federal Community Development Block Grant to help reduce the cost to property owners in Yankee Lake and Masury who will get sanitary sewer service in an upcoming sewer extension project.
However, two property owners have not responded to income surveys, and it’s still possible they could swing the survey back in favor of qualifying for the grant.
“There were 65 benefiting properties,” said Planner II Emily Moran. “We got 63 (surveys) back.”
“A lot of people, and I understand, they don’t want to share their information, I get that,” said Trumbull County Planning Commission Executive Director Julie Green, who would apply for the CDBG.
“But, in this case, we’re so close,” she said. “It would be a shame to find out that those last two houses could have put us over the 51 percent. That’s why we keep trying.”
It’s not the number of properties that impact the survey, but the number of residents on those properties. If at least 51 percent of residents have low or moderate incomes, the area would qualify for the CDBG.
“Of those, 61 people were considered low to moderate income, and 68 were not,” Moran said.
The CDBG would be for $750,000 and “would significantly lower their capital fee,” Green said, referring to the charge to residents to pay off a loan for the project. “It also could be used to connect people to the sanitary sewer, which is huge, because that’s a lot of money. It’s like $7,000 a house.”
