Hopedale passes motion for additional water bill surcharge

BY SHAWN DIGITY (twitter@DIGITYnodoubt)

HOPEDALE—Hopedale met in August for their regular monthly meeting, and the main focal point became the water tank-booster station project. Initially, the project was under a water tank-Rabbit Road renovation umbrella, but Rabbit Road has since been addressed, leaving just the water tank-booster station combo on the docket as the next primary job. The council discussed available options for grant and loan applications during the meeting, and council members established that a water bill surcharge would have to be implemented.

Tacking on the new surcharge would be explicitly set aside for the booster station and water tank, but it wouldn’t be nearly enough to pay for the project entirely out of the village’s pocket. The surcharge is intended to build a “kitty” of proper village funds to show a willingness to actively cut into the project’s costs and curry favor when seeking help from governmental agencies for loans and grants. It would look more favorably from the disbursing agencies’ eyes if the loan or grant applicant is also taking measures to make their own financial contributions. Quixsall project manager Katie Saba took the floor for a large portion of the council’s meeting to expound on the application process and where Hopedale stood.

Saba ran some figures to check the feasibility of a new surcharge with different prices using the revenue page from the Rabbit Road project. One example, the $2.50 surcharge went quickly into the red. As mentioned, the surcharge is a necessity; though, the amount was one of the bigger discussions. The council can reduce the charge value after an official agreement if need be, but it was agreed that $5 would make a good starting point — and probably the lowest possible price. In the water tank’s specific instance, though, it doesn’t seem that it could breach below $5. Dropping to even $4.75 was iffy as it still showed early negative numbers, according to the Rabbit Road revenue projections. And the surcharge would have to play off the loans or grants that the village receives.

But first, the Hopedale council had to decide which direction to move regarding the grants. The council’s first resolution of the meeting (Resolution 2021-13) was to apply to the Ohio Public Works Commission for booster station refurbishing funds; the resolution passed. A second motion was taken and passed for the $5 surcharge. Resolution 2021-14 is executing the surcharge so that Hopedale can start building an account for the water tank and booster station project. Second and third reads were taken for the emergency implementation of the $5 surcharge. The motion passed, and the new charge will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022. The council had been looking at several options, and August’s meeting brought the Ohio Public Works Commission opportunity to the forefront since its due date is in October. But a Department of Development application has already been submitted and will be reviewed over a post-submission 45-day window. The grant application was made for $2.6 million despite the village being eligible for $5 million. The Department of Development was described as “not being that nice” by Saba, so it was better to proceed with a more realistic asking price.

The village has stayed connected with the Environmental Protection Agency, so some considerations have been made while working through the grant and loan application process. Saba and her EPA contact theorized that the Agency would be OK if Hopedale applied for a grant from Public Works and that potential grant would be awarded in July 2022. However, the EPA might be perturbed if Hopedale were to gain assistance from other certain agencies, like the Appalachian Regional Commission or Army Corps of Engineers, Saba mentioned. It would reportedly not make the EPA happy, and neither of those disbursements would come until the winter or spring of 2023 anyway, which wouldn’t work from the EPA’s standpoint.

The council is also looking to gather more funding through the Harrison County Commissioners. The Hopedale council is taking a supplemental measure to touch base with the commissioners, and a letter was penned specifically for that cause, which concluded the council meeting. As for now, it’s the waiting game as Hopedale prepares for grant and loan review. But the so-called “kitty” will start accruing in January.