BELLAIRE — Residents will pay more for water starting this month after Bellaire Village Council approved a rate increase ordinance.

In a 5-1 vote Thursday, a majority of council members approved increasing the water rates incrementally each year for the next five years. Village officials have said the increase was needed to help secure a loan and grant for installation of two new air strippers at the water treatment plant.

Voting in favor of the increase were Council members Mike Doyle, Jerry Olack, Jerry Fisher, Donny Maupin and Elizabeth Dugmore. Councilwoman Nikki Liberatore opposed the measure.

Liberatore said Tuesday that she understands why the increase was necessary, but she does not agree with it.

“As much as I appreciate all the hard work and time that went into the water stripper project and the loan forgiveness process, in good conscience, I could not approve a water rate increase. I understand that it had to be done due to (Ohio Rural Community Assistance Program) mandates,” she said. “And, our water rates have not been increased in years and years even though there are ordinances to increase them with inflation every year. The water department loss has not been dealt with.”

She added that village officials have still not determined exactly why the water department revenues continue to be low.

“Nobody can figure out why several households are billed at minimum usage,” Liberatore said. “Expenses are too high. With that being said, I didn’t feel the residents should have to pay more when our own fiscal house isn’t in order.”

Village officials previously said that faulty water meters are much to blame for water revenue loss in Bellaire.

The water rate increase schedule includes: an additional $3.02, effective May; another $2.29 in January 2022; $2.33 in January 2023; $2.47 in January 2024; and another $1.20 in January 2025. The current base water rate for a resident is $25.09 per month for 2,000 gallons of water.

The grant and loan funding for the estimated $3 million project is coming from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. It is expected to be covered by a $1.5 million grant and a $1.5 million loan from the Ohio EPA.

The air strippers that will be installed blow air into the water, which would eliminate the chemical tetrachloroethylene. With the installation of the air strippers, the village could connect to the new intake, which would increase the plant’s capacity.

This would allow the plant to sell water to other places. The village currently cannot use the new valve because of the chemical tetrachloroethylene. This is the same chemical that state and local health officials determined in 2019 was coming from a former dry cleaning business in the community.

That valve is not being used by the village and there is no pipe connected to the plant, which means no water from it is entering the plant. However, that water still is tested by the Ohio EPA. Village Treasurer Tom Sable noted that during the special meeting last week, council also discussed a contract with CTI Engineering related to the water treatment plant project. A representative of CTI is expected to attend the 6 p.m. Thursday council meeting via Zoom to discuss the project and contract.