WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners on Tuesday began preliminary discussions about a possible water rate increase later this year.

Sanitary Engineer Gary Newbrough said an increase is being recommended because the bulk water rates being charged to the county has been steadily increasing over the past 10 years, and nearly all other operational costs have increased. The county has not passed these increases on to water users.

The recommended amount for 2025 could be $12.50 per thousand gallons plus a $5 water replacement improvement fee each month.

If an increase is not approved, the county will not have enough to pay for its water by early summer, according to Newbrough.

In 2024, the county’s water department earned $6,977,362 in revenue, but it had $8,500,470 in expenses, leaving it $1,523,107 in the red. The county has been experiencing losses every year since 2019.

The county in 2023 approved combining its seven water districts into a single district.

Commissioner Tony Bernard questioned why previous commissioner boards had not addressed this water emergency prior to this year.

“”We’ve seen bulk rate increases for the last 10 years,” he said. “Now, in 2025, all of a sudden we need a rate increase when your department knows we’ve needed a rate increase. Why didn’t you tell the previous board they needed a rate increase,” Bernard questioned. “Wasn’t it an emergency in each of the last four to five years you needed a rate increase.”

Newbrough said the department requested a rate study in 2020, which was done by MS Consultants. They learned the result of that study in December 2022, which was presented to the commissioners.

At the time, MS Consultants rate study recommended an increase from $10.50 to $11.10 per 1,000 gallons through 2026.

Bernard questioned what was done with the recommendations from that study.

“It was not put on the commissioners agenda for a vote,” Newbrough responded.

Bob Maiorano, the comptroller at the county’s sanitary department, explained they had hoped the rate increase would have taken place shortly after the rate study was completed. There have been several bulk rate increases charged to the county since that time.

“If the increase had been done, we would not be here today,” he said.

The county purchases its water from Niles, Newton Falls, Warren and Youngstown. The city of Youngstown gets its water from the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.

Bernard argues they knew the county was facing an emergency when it combined the seven water districts.

The Bazetta / Champion, Braceville Township, Howland, Mineral Ridge, Mosquito Creek, Southeast and Warren Township water districts were merged to form the combined district in 2023.

At the time of the formation of the water district, Newbrough told the commissioners it would help those districts that were in poor financial shape through the sharing of funds across all the districts.

“The only reason you did that was to take the money from that to delay the rate increases,” Bernard suggested Tuesday. “That’s why I have a problem.”

Denny Malloy, who has been a commissioner for the past two years, said the MS Consultants presentation was done prior to him joining the board.

It was Malloy’s suggestion for the county to combine the seven water districts into one in 2023.

“I said ‘I just got here and I don’t want to see you raise rates until you show me you’ve cut every penny and combined every service possible,'” Malloy said.

Bernard repeatedly questioned why water revenue losses were not previously addressed. He expressed concern the public perception will be that commissioner Rick Hernandez and himself caused the need for water rate increases when they could have been addressed under previous administrations.

“Low and fixed income residents will not be able to afford the suggested increases,” Bernard said.

Maiorano said Howland’s increase likely will be around 80%. However, he added, increases expected in other communities will be 30%.

Trumbull Human Resources Director Alexandra DeVengencie Bush suggested Maiorano and Newbrough present to the commissioners a history outlining costs and revenues being faced by the county and the ramifications of no action taking place.

“You need to present what you have cut,” she said. “If you cut all of the water employees, that would not be enough.”

She questioned if the county has approached Niles and Youngstown to renegotiate the water rates.

CHAMPION’S VIEW

Champion Trustee Rex Fee expressed his concerns during Monday’s township trustees meeting over the proposed water rate increase. Fee said he spoke with Newbrough about the proposed water rate increase of $12.50 per 1,000 gallons that all water districts in the county would pay.

“His intention is that all water districts in the county would pay the same rate,” Fee said.

Fee said water customers in Champion pay $9.53 per 1,000 gallons and with what is proposed at $12.50 per 1,000 gallons, it would mean an increase of $2.97, or 31.15%, for Champion customers.

While he understands the need for a rate increase, Fee noted it should not jump from $9.53 to $12.50 per 1,000 gallons at one time. Rather, the increase should be over a five-year period with a certain percentage each year.

“The 31.15% increase is too big,” he said. “That would be a huge adjustment and blow to people in the water district.”

Fee knows there has been an increase in bulk water costs for the county, going from $3.1 million to $4.9 million, which is an adjustment of $1.8 million.

Other townships are also against the rate increase, he said. Vienna trustees also brought up the issue at their meeting on Monday.

Cities and municipalities will increase their outside water user rates while keeping the inside water user rates lower, Fee noted.