TOLEDO, Ohio — Lucas County has responded to a lawsuit from the city of Maumee over more than $1 million in unpaid water bills, saying that Maumee demanded payment despite knowing its bills were erroneous and that the city refused to provide the county with information to support their demands.
The county's response, which officials provided to WTOL 11 Wednesday evening, also claims that as an agency of the state of Ohio, the commissioners are immune from the lawsuit.
The response also includes a countersuit in which Lucas County officials demand "remedy and redress for the city of Maumee's unlawful and intentional dumping over decades, of hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Maumee River."
Maumee filed a lawsuit against the county on Jan. 5 for $1,045,622.91. The city said the invoices are from flow monitors at the property that showed an excessive amount of water being discharged between August 2021 and December 2022.
The water then travels to the Maumee River Wastewater Plant in Waterville, which is owned by Lucas County.
In January, Maumee Mayor Rich Carr said the meters used to determine the volume being discharged from the recreation center are "state of the art" and give accurate readings.
But Pete Gerken, president of the Board of Lucas County Commissioners, said the county questions the numbers and thought discussions between both parties were "on the right path."
Carr said if more modern meters were being used by the Lucas County Sewer District to bill Maumee for all sewage in the city to be treated, the county would owe the city several million dollars more than what Maumee is asking for in its lawsuit.
The county voted in early January to spend nearly $200,000 to repair sanitary sewer lines at the site. The work was expected to start in February.
Maumee also sent the city of Toledo a $448,000 bill for 2022 sanitary sewer charges. Maumee said that those charges stem from data collected at a flow monitoring site near Detroit Avenue.
Erin Simmons, a spokeswoman for the Toledo Department of Public Utilities, said Wednesday that issue has yet to be resolved.
"The calculations and analysis regarding Maumee’s allegations are still being performed in preparation for the city’s response, which will be available by March 28."
The issue Lucas County raises in its countersuit began when it was revealed that Maumee lied to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for decades about discharges of sewage into the Maumee River.
On July 10, 2020, the city self-reported the violations to the state, admitting that for years it had reported 0 discharges when in every one of the years at least some discharges occurred that violated the city's 1996 agreement with the state.
According to some estimates, as much as 150 million gallons of untreated water may have been discharged each year into the river without ever being reported to the EPA.
The city was fined almost $30,000 by state officials and also ordered to upgrade its sewage system to prevent further sewage overflows, which resulted in a hike in water rates for city residents.
In late 2021 the Lucas County commissioners empaneled a special commission to investigate the Maumee sewage-dumping issue. County officials have expressed frustration at a lack of transparency with the issue.
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