Dear Icon:
I urge Bluffton residents to join me in voting YES for the 1/4-percent income tax for water and sewer projects. If this passes it will be effective starting January 1, 2013, just one day after the existing 1/4 percent income tax for remodeling Town Hall will be terminated.
Your Bluffton income tax will not increase beyond what it is now because the proposed tax is the same percentage and based on the same sources of income as the tax that is ending.
Why do we need money for water and sewer projects? Let's look first at our water. We are now enjoying water that has between six and seven times less hardness than when our water came from wells drilled into limestone. This is a good thing. The high hardness created deposits in our plumbing, sink and shower fixtures, dishwashers, and so forth. The hard water also rusted and made lime deposits in the iron water-supply pipes that are still used in some areas of town.
The softer water is dissolving the lime deposits in these old iron pipes. This process is releasing the rust that got intermingled with the lime deposits. Residents in areas where iron pipes still exist are experiencing rusty water that is discoloring laundry, and discoloring dishwashers, washers, and toilets.
To make matters worse, the iron pipes are getting weaker as these deposits dissolve, and that means we face leaking or bursting water mains in the areas that still have the iron pipes.
If you live in one of the iron-pipe areas like I do, you wish we had replaced all the iron pipes a few years ago. We have had a miserable time putting up with all the rusty water. Sadly, we have not been able to replace the iron pipes because it is a $2 million project, and Bluffton Village does not have this kind of money. Grants or other state or federal funding are not available.
If the replacement tax passes, the guaranteed tax revenue will allow us to secure low-interest loans so we can immediately replace most of the iron pipes yet this year (2012).
Those of us in the rusty-water areas would really like to see this happen. Even if you don't live in one of the rusty areas, your water service and rates could be affected if we begin to have more leaks and bursting pipes. It is pretty much guaranteed we will have increasing iron-pipe problems if we don't get these iron pipes replaced with plastic pipes.
On the sewer side, the Environmental Protection Agency is mandating sewer improvements across the country, and these sewer improvements are hitting the Midwest pretty hard.
We have a lot of cities and towns with sewers and sewage-treatment plants that don't meet the new standards. The sewer improvements fall into the category of "unfunded mandates." The state and federal EPAs are demanding the improvements, but they are not providing any revenue to pay for them.
In Bluffton we are currently aware of about $2 million worth of sewer improvements that we somehow must fund. We expect there will be more mandates as the EPA continues to seek improvements of water quality in our lakes and streams.
It appears the $2-million for water-line replacement, and the $2-million for sewer improvements ($4-million total) can be funded by replacing the Town Hall income tax with the proposed water/sewer income tax.
This spreads the cost over a possible 15 years (the maximum duration of the proposed tax) and that seems a lot better to me than an immediate, substantial, and indefinite-length increase in our water and sewer bills.
Better yet, since it is a replacement tax, we basically won't notice anything different from what we have been paying in the past several years.
We are all aware of the debating and political posturing about budgets taking place at both the state and federal levels. Regardless of how this all works out, it is clear that villages like Bluffton will need to fund more and more of the projects for which we used to get state or federal assistance.
We all need to pay for roads, utilities, and other "infrastructure necessities" one way or another. Although this is hitting us hard in Bluffton, I am relieved it is not hitting us as hard as other places.
Residents in Lima are expecting at least a doubling and perhaps as much as a tripling of their sewer rates. I hope you agree that continuation of a 1/4-percent income tax redirected toward water and sewer projects is a good way to proceed.
Mayor Eric Fulcomer and Village Council members are willing to answer questions. I am also willing to discuss this with you and answer questions.
Michael Edmiston
210 Grove Street
Bluffton, OH
