LaTourette, Cafaro want federal earmarks for sewer project

By MARGIE TRAX PAGE - Staff Writer - mtrax@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

March 27, 2008 04:25 am

— AUSTINBURG TOWNSHIP — Government earmarks aren’t always for bridges to nowhere.
Though some members of Congress have given earmarks a bad name, U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Concord Township, told Ashtabula County commissioners and Austinburg Township trustees he will fight for money for a good cause.
“What we are asking for here is an earmark, and earmarks can be made for goofy things or for good things. The Austinburg sewer project is a good thing,” he said.
LaTourette explained his intention to have a $1 million earmark placed on federal legislation, Wednesday afternoon at Austinburg Township Hall. He shared the stage with state Sen. Capri Cafaro, D-Hubbard, and County Commissioners Joseph Moroski and Deborah Newcomb.
LaTourette praised the commissioners and Austinburg Township trustees, telling the roomful of township residents “your trustees and county commissioners have done everything right in regards to finding the dollars and finding the people who can find the dollars.”
Township residents were told last year that public sewers will be constructed in the vicinity of Route 307 and Route 45 to service area residents, including those on Mill Street and Mill Street Extension, Betts Drive, Chestnut Street and Maple Street.
Estimated cost of the sewer project is $1.16 million. It will include 8,500 feet of sanitary sewer lines and a lift station at Route 45 and Route 307.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency project requires area residents to hook into the public sewer line. EPA has ordered the county to design and construct, or improve, sanitary sewers in the township. Under EPA’s schedule of compliance, the project must be completed by the end of 2008, said Larry Meaney, Department of Environmental Services director.
Properties required to hook into the sewer line will be assessed proportional shares of the project’s costs, Meaney said. The assessment can be amortized over 20 years, and payments, plus interest, will be added to residents’ property taxes. The sewer assessment amounts to an average of about $30,000 per affected household, not including a $4,000 tap-in fee.
The county has secured a $350,000 grant and a $150,000 zero-interest loan from the Ohio Public Works Commission, but the remainder will be the responsibility of township residents, Meaney said.
LaTourette and Cafaro say they will fight to find ever more funding to bring the sewer construction bill as low as possible for affected residents.
“The goal is to put everything we can together to bring down the cost of the project as much as possible,” he said.
Cafaro, who has been working closely with the Austinburg Township trustees to find money for the sewer project, said no stone will be left unturned in the search for dollars.
“We are searching under every rock for money. The good news is the Ohio Department of Public Works will make a whole new round of money available for infrastructure projects,” she said.
LaTourette said residents shouldn’t shy away from the word “earmark.”
“You all pay federal tax, and if they are going to hand it out in earmarks, the money should come back to Austinburg Township and Ashtabula County,” LaTourette said. “That is what earmarks are for.”