STEUBENVILLE — City officials are hoping they’ve raised water and sewer rates enough to convince Ohio EPA and lenders they’ll be able to pay back any money the city has to borrow for much-needed infrastructure improvements, without unduly burdening residents living on low- or fixed-incomes.

Council approved a revised rate structure Tuesday on an emergency basis, ending weeks of wrangling over how best to fund the upgrades and environmental mandates. Beginning in November, Steubenville’s base utility bill will go from $62.82 a month to $85.60. Additional increases will be implemented annually over the next four years.

“Honestly, it’s a start,” City Manager Jim Mavromatis said afterwards. “That’s the best way to say it. We’re trying to attack the problem. We have to show OEPA we’re taking this seriously and trying to get the funding we need to attack the problem.”

City officials are hoping the rate hikes will clear the way for a $7 million, no-interest loan. If approved, OEPA would forgive about 50 percent of the debt.

Mavromatis, though, said that’s only enough to cover valve and line repairs. He said another $9 million- to $12 million in infrastructure upgrades eventually must be done, “but we can’t tackle them all at once.”

Sixth Ward Councilman Bob Villamagna called it a “nice compromise,” pointing out city administrators originally proposed a 30 percent rate hike.

“We got it down about 15 percent because we realized how big a burden it would be,” Villamagna added. “Nobody’s happy about it, believe me.”

Councilwoman-at-large Kimberly Hahn said the compromise, which she spearheaded, “won’t fix decades of deterioration, but we feel it’s a good-faith effort.

“We know some people will struggle, especially those on fixed incomes,” Hahn added. “Just because we passed it doesn’t mean the challenges are over. They’re not. But we couldn’t do any of it without the increase.”