TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - With Toledo City Council considering a plan to raise water rates over the next five years, several spending measures have been presented to Council detailing how that money would be spent.
Significant upgrades are being planned at the Collins Park Water Treatment Plant, provided Council approves the rate increases to pay for them. Built in 1942 and expanded in 1956, the plan calls for building two additional treatment basins at the plant to increase capacity by 40 million gallons per day, at a cost of $96 million.
Plant Administrator Andy McClure says improvements, which would be paid for through the higher rates, are improvements outlined in recommendations by the EPA.
"Those basins are really required so we can go back in and do heavy maintenance on the oldest parts of the plant. There's certain parts of the process that we can't take down and do heavy maintenance on and still be able to meet demands," explains McClure.
If Council approves raising rates, by 2018, the average residential customer would pay an additional $124 per year, and seniors, along with those with a homestead exemption, would pay an extra $31 per year.
Roy Adams, who helps run the Idle Time Club in east Toledo, a safe haven for recovering alcoholics, says the plan gives him a case of sticker shock.
"I don't see how it's possible they could raise rates. At the rates they got now, we can't afford to pay the bill now," said Adams.
Fred Kutz believes the improvements at the water plant are worth it.
"I don't want to pay more, but the fact is, we're going to have to pay more. There's one thing you can't live without and that's water," said Kutz.
City Council will be holding two more public hearings on the water rate proposal before a vote is taken.
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