For now a $1.95 increase – referred to as a service line maintenance rider – will appear on residential bills in the coming months following City Council’s approval Wednesday night.
The additional revenue partly enables the city to comply with recommendations from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to replace certain prone-to-failure risers, which are gas lines located next to homes that connect to the service lines. The revenue will also be used to replace any leaky service lines. The increase will be periodically evaluated and could go up or down based on actual costs, and about half of the increase will expire in five years, according to a city report.
There are about 3,000 field-assembled risers on homes across the city that need to be replaced. The risers aren’t installed on new homes anymore because they can develop leaks, according to Charles Young, Hamilton’s general manager of utilities.
Commercial properties will not be charged the increase because they will be responsible to pay for any replacement or repairs to risers. But without the increase to residential customers, costs to fix a faulty riser would fall on the homeowner, Young said.
A separate economic development rider that has already been established by City Council could be used for putting utility wires and poles underground and making other aesthetic improvements as part of the East Side High Street Gateway Project. The amount of the increase would depend on the cost of the project, which some estimates put at around $2 million, Young said.
The aim of the gateway project is to improve the appearance of High Street as commuters enter the city.
Mayor Pat Moeller thinks it’s a good idea, but he said traffic congestion through downtown needs to be addressed at the same time. He said city traffic engineers have been directed to come up with solutions, like widening streets and adding turning lanes, because High Street is “over capacity.”
“That’s our main thoroughfare into the city. That’s the corridor so many people see when they come to town,” Moeller said. “But while we work on the gateway appearance, we need to work on the gateway traffic.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4542 or rwilson@coxohio.com.
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