Akron to Begin Largest Part of Sewer Overhaul, $317 Million Tunnel

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By John Harper, Northeast Ohio Media Group 

AKRON, Ohio -- Akron City Council signed off Monday on a $317 million, 27-foot-diameter tunnel, the largest portion of the city's $1.4 billion sewer redo required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The city will also ask for 1.8-percent interest rate loan from the state to cover the cost of building the massive tunnel, which will be located roughly beneath the Ohio and Erie Canal downtown. The tunnel will hold excess storm runoff and sewage and prevent it from overflowing into the canal and eventually the Cuyahoga River.

The project underlines the strain the sewer project is putting on the city's budget. As the state cuts millions of dollars in local government funds, the sewer obligation has ballooned to its current $1.4 billion price tag.

The new loan will come on top of $153 million the city asked the EPA for in January. The state agency granted the city $2.9 million in loans this year already.

Council Finance Committee Chairman Mike Freemen estimates that the sewer project now comprises roughly two-thirds of the city's entire capital budget, although he does not believe the new debt will affect the city's credit rating or ability to sell bonds.

Council held the resolution approving the loans for nearly six weeks after introduction in January. Freeman said council was awaiting more details on the city's plans to start its own construction company.

Mayor Don Plusquellic announced his intent to start a city-owned construction company last month, saying that the city was frustrated with its inability to find sufficient concrete contractors willing to meet the city's requirement that 50 percent of labor on the project be performed by Akron residents.

Council is holding the proposal to buy $1.9 million worth of dump trucks and concrete trucks for a public hearing Monday.

"The legislation for equipment, we knew it was coming, but it just came yesterday," Freeman said. "I have asked for more explanation because this is the first time anybody in Ohio has done something like this."

The mayor's office had hoped that the Environmental Protection Agency would accept modifications to the project that would reduce the size of the tunnel, but the EPA rejected the changes in a letter sent to the city in December.

The city then filed a motion in federal court asking Judge John Adams to reopen the consent decree forcing the city to upgrade its sewers. As part of its argument the city claimed that current sewer rate increases won't be enough to pay for the project.

Both the Ohio Attorney General and U.S. Justice Department argued against reopening the decree, saying there are already terms that allow new technology to be negotiated into the process. The judge has not yet ruled on the city's request as a deadline to build the massive tunnel approaches.

The city has continued to propose alternative technologies to save on the cost of other, smaller components of the sewer overhaul.