Galena hikes sewer fees 3 percent

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Galena Village Council has voted to increase 2016 sewer fees 3 percent.

Council is following the Rural Community Assistance Program’s recommendations for annual 3 percent increases to keep the sewer utility in the black, according to village officials.

Residential fees will increase $1.63 per month to $56.08 per month or $168.24 per quarter, beginning Feb. 1.

Mayor Thomas Hopper explained that the village’s sewer fees are a flat rate because the village does not control the water utility and does not have access to water usage information that many municipalities base their rates on.

Lindsey Kerr and Dan Risko, from the State Treasurer’s Office, gave a presentation on the ohiocheckbook.com website aimed at providing greater transparency for the public to look at government spending. Council voted to move forward with adding Galena’s finances to the online system.

Second bids for the village’s current trail project to pave from Dustin Road to Holmes Street came in higher than grant funding amounts so council voted to contribute $34,000 more to the project. The Ohio to Erie Trail Fund is contributing $15,000.

Council held first readings on two resolutions to participate in the Clean Ohio Trail Fund grant applications. The village and Delaware County Friends of the Trail plan to apply for another grant to pave the trail on the old railroad bed north of Holmes Street. It is anticipated that the developer of the planned Arrowhead Lakes Estates, north of Heathermere, will pave a section of the trail in the development from Heathermere north to the village’s municipal boundary with Sunbury. These projects will connect the Ohio to Erie Trail through Galena.

Staff Report

Information for this story was provided by the village of Galena.

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