Monroe County residents concerned over sewer project charges
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Residents of riverfront communities in Monroe County packed the meeting of the Ohio and Lee Township Water and Sewer Authority in Sardis on Monday evening, seeking answers to higher sewage rates and hookup fees.
Several residents of Hannibal believed they were misled into believing the project was 100% paid for through grant funding and there would be no cost to them. They said they received a letter in 2023 from the attorney for the township stating it was essential to sign the document in order to be included in the final connection list and that their connection fee would be paid for by the authority.They added that they were told failure to sign the document could require them to pay their own connection fee which can run as high as $18,000 per household.
As part of the project, each home has a contractor-installed tank that processes the raw sewage by chopping it into material that will flow easier through a sewer line. For some homes, their sewer systems come out of their houses at the basement level, but the new system is engineered for ground-level exits.
Those homeowners learned that they would have to pay as much as $20,000 to get the proper connections, contractors could not go closer than three feet from a home and inside work was prohibited with grant money.
One resident asked project engineer Chris Hunt whether, if a home had a new septic tank system, the home could just stay on that.
"If your home is in the water authority designated area, and you have a new or old septic system, you still have to connect to the new sewer system,” Hunt replied. “No choice, state mandated."
Some residents said that many in the area were on fixed incomes and low budgets, and that some would have to take out second mortgages to fund it.
Authority President Siegel Fetty explained to the gathering that, five years ago, the old water board entered into the agreement having been mandated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency that all homes using the authority's water must comply, and join the new sewer system.
Fetty did explain that in conversations with the state, there is some assistance that can be arranged for those citizens who are low income and have a large cost associated with the installation into their homes. He also pointed out that this issue was up for discussion since 2020, and that few citizens attended the water board meetings to gain a better understanding of the process.