By STACY MILLBERG - Staff Writer - smillberg@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon
September 22, 2008 11:01 pm
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ROCK CREEK — The village’s financial situation is not improving; in fact, it’s getting worse, and village officials are trying to figure out what they are going to do.
Clerk-Treasurer Teresa Cumberledge wrote a letter to the Ashtabula County Auditor’s Office, asking what to do about the situation, and the reply she got said to quit spending, said Mayor Beverly Martin.
“We’re actually concerned about how we’re going to make payroll by the end of the year,” she said.
Two of the village’s vehicles need repairs, and there is no money to repair them. A number of roads in the village are in desperate need of work, but there is no money in the road fund to pay for the materials. Village Solicitor Jamie Callender hasn’t been paid for his services in months, and at a rate of $150 per hour, the bill keeps increasing.
Council voted at Monday’s regular meeting to increase some of their utility fees in order to help cover the village’s costs. Tap-in fees to the sewer system were raised to cover costs at the sewer plant. Council members also approved an increase in the village’s water rates to cover the increase handed down by Ohio American Water Co.
Residents tapping into the sewer system now will pay $4,000 for a single dwelling, $6,000 for a duplex and $8,000 for a triplex. These costs are above and beyond the cost of any equipment, like sewer grinder units or lift stations. The tap-in fees were raised just a year ago, Martin said.
As for the water rates, Ohio American Water announced it will raise its rates 15 percent across the board for the county. To compensate for the increase, village residents now will pay a base rate of $4 per 1,000 gallons of water with a minimum usage of 1,000 gallons.
“We knew this was coming; we just didn’t know when,” Martin said. “We barely have our heads above water as it is.”
Cumberledge said the water and sewer fund is pretty much holding its own as is the street fund. It’s the general fund that is the concern. Once the village pays the employees’ payroll at the end of the year, $3,000 needs to be transferred from the general fund into the sewer fund to cover a loan, but there won’t be enough money to do so, she said.
“I don’t know what we are going to do,” Cumberledge said.
The village’s workers’ compensation premium has doubled because of an employee claim a year ago, and the rate will not decrease until 2011, she said.
“The problem is you’re not going to fix it because everything is going up,” said Councilman Mark Sandercock.
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