Brookfield Township residents who have city water will be seeing higher bills. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has approved a system improvement charge for Aqua Ohio customers, and the Trumbull County commissioners have authorized raising the fee for each 1,000 gallons used by customers to $11.75.
The agencies serve different parts of Brookfield Township.
The Aqua hike will add a 4.25-percent charge per month to customer bills to reimburse the company for work that has been performed replacing water lines and improving treatment plants. The company said an average residential customer uses 4,000 gallons of water a month, which would result in a system improvement charge of $2.30.
The county commissioners upped the rates in the former Southeast water district, which included Brookfield, from
$8.22 for every 1,000 gallons. They also kicked up the replacement improvement fee from $2 a month to $5.
The county commissioners, acting April 3, also authorized having a performance audit done of the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer’s water department, and creating an advisory board. These moves will “take the politics out of” the operation of the water department, said Commissioner Tony Bernard.
The Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer had asked that rates be raised to $12 per 1,000 gallons followed by hikes to $12.25 in 2026 and $12.50 in 2027. The $11.75 rate will be good for one year, at which the point the commissioners will re-evaluate it, commissioners said.
“I do believe, going forward, we will have to incrementally raise these rates,” said Commissioner Rick Hernandez.
Bob Maiorano, comptroller for the department, said the department “can live” with $11.75. The department still has about $200,000 in savings, he said.
“Thank you for the proposal, Commissioner Bernard,” Maiorano said. Bernard made the rate-hike motion.
“We’re perfectly fine with the performance audit,” Maiorano said. “If there are any improvements that can be made, we certainly want to do that. We’re OK with the advisory council as well.”
The council will be made up of people appointed by the townships that are served by the water department. The counsel will meet quarterly and review the department’s financial position and legal obligations. It will ensure the department will “meet the greatest needs of Trumbull County and its constituents,” Bernard said.
Hernandez pushed back on Bernard’s statement that Bernard does not trust the department’s figures. Hernandez said the department is “very well run” and a “very well-oiled machine.”
The department has been operating at a deficit since 2019, using its savings to absorb the rate hikes imposed by bulk water suppliers Niles, Warren, Newton Falls and Youngstown, officials said.
“We know the fund is broke and that’s why the rate increase has to happen,” Bernard said. “We either do this or the water gets turned off.”
“We’re being fiscally responsible,” said Commissioner Denny Malloy.
