BY JEFF SKINNER 

FINDLAY, OHIO – On Tuesday, November 21, the city of Findlay moved to raise water rates for residents for the first time in 13 years.

In a historic move, and much to the chagrin of local residents, the Findlay Mayor’s administration moved to raise water rates for residents of the city by 50%. Members of the public took to the podium at Tuesday’s meeting to voice their concerns over the move and why they felt the move was unjustified. At the Tuesday meeting, council was asked to vote to ‘show support’ for the rate increase by voting on support of the water and sewer committee report recommending a rate increase. 

“Funny how this move comes after the election and the mayor is asking council to support it so the increase does not fall on the mayor alone,” resident Danny Delong said on Tuesday. “We began this year with a 9.1 million dollar surplus and if the water committee had done their homework, they would have realized the numbers they were presented with were inaccurate and wrong.”

Delong presented a number of documents to council at Tuesday’s meeting, which argued that the city of Findlay could actually be operating on a surplus of funds at the end of 2023, which would make any increase a moot point. According to Delong, a 50% increase in rates is ’unacceptable’ to ask of residents during a time of economic hardship and based on available metrics, may be unnecessary. 

During the discussion, council member Jeff Wobser asked Delong, if he felt a 50% increase was unacceptable, ‘what would an acceptable increase be?’ Despite seemingly initially ignoring the main point of Delong’s statement on the potential of a surplus in the water revenue, Wobser did eventually inquire with the city service director, Rob Martin, on if he felt the numbers in the water and Sewer committee report were valid, given Delong’s concerns. 

According to Martin, much of the assessment to back the move for a rate increase was based on estimates and projections of water usage, utilizing the cities latest smart meter readings that were recently installed, while the estimates from his report on the budget running in the red is due to additional projects that have funds already allocated from the previously stated surplus Delong referred to. 

“The revenue base is off the auditors projections,” Martin said. “We got our numbers off the auditors website and we based our numbers on historical trends as well as make a year to year budget. There might be some lag time with the water fund where it may appear high but there are projects that are already allocated to use some of those funds on that accounting page.” 

According to Martin, the water fund is projected to finish the year with a surplus of $750,000.

Council member Holly Frische echoed Delong’s sentiment on the move by the mayor’s administration to have council vote on the committee report as a show of support being a political move to ‘spread blame’ among council for a move that, according to Ohio Revised Code, is entirely the prerogative of the mayor’s office.

“I think it’s completely inappropriate to ask for council to support a rate increase at 50% to take the heat off the administration, when we have no say in it,” Frische said. “We could simply have appreciated their informing us on it, so I’m going to vote against passing that report for that reason.” 

According to ORC 743.04, Section A, the choice on what or how much to charge ultimately falls under the purview of offices under the mayor’s authority. Ultimately, council voted to support the committee report, with only council member Frische opposing the measure. 

While most members of the public stood to voice their concerns over the water rate increase, others spoke to voice opposition to the city’s other major infrastructure project, the downtown recreation area. Based on some estimates, the project could balloon in cost to around $40 million. According to the Mayor Christina Muryn, the project seeks to attract retirees and business investments to spur revenue for the city long term. However, many residents of Findlay believe the ulterior motive may be to convert Findlay into a “15 minute Smart city.” 

“I want to address the note [Mayor Muryn] made at the last meeting saying she was not ‘building a 15 minute smart city’.” Resident Haydee Sadler said. “Smart [stands for] a Self Monitoring Analysis and Technology System. So it must be a coincidence that the US conference of mayors she is affiliated with, has a mayor’s leadership institute on smart cities. It must be a coincidence that MetroNet, who is installing our 5g fiber optics, builds Smart Cities. It must be a coincidence that Suez North America, a company we are using in Findlay’s water project, is creating solutions for Smart cities and has images on their website. It must be a coincidence that the new transmitters are Smart meters. It must be a coincidence that the Silver Springs Network provides Smart Grid products for networking that enables Smart energy.”

According to Sadler, the Silver Springs Network website references the ‘internet of things’, a concept most recently introduced by the World Economic Forum as a concept of interlocking both biological and physical items through wireless technology. As some are aware, much of the opposition to Smart city concepts comes from the possibility of greater surveillance and control of movement of residents under the guise of environmental protection or Covid mitigation.

Still other residents questioned the rationality of moving to create yet another park in or around Findlay when the county is already inundated with a total of 50 named parks for a county population size of 74,656, well over the recommended park ratio from the National Recreation and Park Association of 1 park for every 2,287 residents, begging the question of why move forward with such a project in the first place?

Findlay City Council meetings are held the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers located on the first floor of the Municipal Building.