Rocky Fork Lake property owners raise concerns over sewer increases

Several property owners voiced concerns with county commissioners Wednesday over recent increases in fees and assessments within the Rocky Fork Lake area sewer district.

Commissioners Shane Wilkin, Tom Horst and Jeremy Shaffer along with Highland County Auditor Bill Fawley and Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins listened to concerns from seven local property owners, including Margie Brunner, a 32-year lake area resident, who was speaking for several of her neighbors.

The user fees were set at $13.50 per month in 2000 and have been going up. On Dec. 5, 2012, commissioners voted, 3-0, to raise the sewerage fees from $29 per month to $33.50 per month, a 16-percent increase, for 2013. On Dec. 4, 2013, commissioners voted, 2-1 with Shaffer dissenting, to increase the monthly sewerage fees on the Rocky Fork Lake wastewater treatment facility customers by $1 – to the present $34.50 per month – for 2014.

The county's engineering firm of Environmental Engineering Services in Lebanon had initially proposed an increase of $8.50 per month or a 29-percent rate hike for 2013 and beyond.

Then, on Sept. 24 of this year, commissioners announced that residents within the Rocky Fork Lake Wastewater Treatment area will see an additional assessment fee of approximately $18.30 per year, per user.

Commissioners met Wednesday, Oct. 29 to approve a Nov. 26 public hearing on the project. A final adoption vote will be scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 3.

Resolution No. 14-255 reads in part: "Whereas, the special assessments to be levied for the purpose of paying the cost of constructing improvements to the Sanitary Sewer Sub district No. 3 (Rocky Fork Lake) have been filed with this Board of County Commissioners and do not exceed the estimated project cost of $949,000 for said improvement;

"Whereas, the Board of County Commissioners will designate Nov. 26, 2014 as a time to hear from all parties whose properties are proposed to be assessed. This hearing will be held during the commissioners' weekly meeting in the Administrative Building, large meeting room, at 9 a.m. This Board hereby finds and determines that all formal actions relative to the passage of this resolution were taken in an open meeting of this Board, and that all deliberations of this Board and of its committees, if any, which resulted in formal action, were taken in meetings open to the public, in full compliance with applicable legal requirements, including Section 121.22 of the Revised Code."

The resolution passed, 2-1, with Wilkin and Horst in favor and Shaffer in opposition.

During the Oct. 29 board meeting, county officials discussed the history of the lake area sewer district, fees and assessments, and the efforts to collect on delinquencies.

The county explained that the new annual assessment is for upgrades and improvements to the system.

"When this was initially done, we were told money would be set aside for future upgrades," Brunner said. "I know there's a problem with collections. How are we going to address it? There are a lot of senior citizens and families who can't afford (the increases). For a lot of our residents, that $18 is money for milk and bread.

"Where did the money go that was set aside for this?"

"There wasn't any reserve built into it," Horst said.

Fawley explained that the commissioners in the late 1990s and around 2000 "tried to keep costs down. I argued then that the rates were probably too low because it didn't build any cushion."

Fawley explained that the former board faced a lot of controversy and some dissension from some lake area residents and tried to set rates as low as possible. "If there was a set-aside, it would have had to come from a higher monthly bill."

Wilkin explained that by law the assessment fees for the upgrades are applied to the new debt and funds cannot be set aside from that line item for any other purpose.

Property owner Dan McCollum asked the board: "If there was not a plan originally, will there be a plan in the future for preventative maintenance?"

"By law, we cannot collect extra for debt," Wilkin said. "This (new assessment) is for a major maintenance issue at the plant."

Brunner also asked for an update on efforts to collect from property owners who are behind in payments.

"I'm trying to make up for 14 years it was never done," Collins said.

Fawley explained that when the sewer district was established, a letter was sent to property owners that stated "If you don't pay your monthly bill, we'll roll it onto your property taxes. That tied the hands of the prosecutor and a lot of people would just wait and pay it on their tax bill. To make it as easy as possible – because of the controversy – that's how it was done."

"We're very much trying, it's just not an easy thing to do," Collins said. Collins said her office has collected $200,000 in back payments.

Wilkin commended the prosecutor's office for its efforts in recovering payments. "We didn't get any cooperation from 1999-2011," he said.

"The system is here and we've got to deal with it the most responsible way we can," Wilkin said. "It's trying to maintain a balance of keeping up with EPA mandates, services and costs."

Commissioners thanked the property owners for attending the meeting and voicing their concerns in a civil manner.

For more information, go to http://www.highlandcountypress.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=23996&SectionID=2&SubSectionID=20&S=1

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