2025-74 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE 2025-34 ADOPTED MAY 5, 2025, AND REPLACING SECTION 1044.04(C) - SECTION ONE OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF VERMILION, TO ESTABLISH NEW WASTEWATER (SEWER) RATES; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
WHEREAS, the Utilities Committee at the meeting of November 17, 2025, unanimously motioned to amend Ordinance 2025-34.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Vermilion, the Counties of Erie and Lorain, and the State of Ohio:
SECTION 1. That Codified Ordinance Section 1044.04(c), as amended, is hereby amended, and replaced as follows:
Effective with the billing generated on or after passage of this ordinance the wastewater rate per 100 cubic feet shall be as follows:
Rate Category Rate
Inside City $11.033
Outside City $13.346
West Lake $13.346
Sewer East $12.087
Erie County $ 8.255
The rates set forth in Ordinance 2023-46 effective with the billing generated on or after April 1, 2026, shall be re-negotiated at the March 2026 Legislative Committee Meeting.
This is the total rate, including operation, maintenance, and replacement (OM&R), and debt increment (capital). The minimum charge per account in each rate category shall be five dollars ($5.00) per month per account. The minimum charge shall be levied against each account, regardless of suspension of service, for each month for which service is available to the account
The definition of rate categories above shall be as follows:
Inside City shall mean that area within the corporate limits of the City of Vermilion as described in Chapter 206 of the Codified Ordinances of this City, with the exception of the East Liberty Avenue Sewer District (Sewer East).
Outside City shall mean any area outside the corporate limits of the City serviced by the City’s sanitary sewer system not otherwise defined herein.
West Lake shall mean that area contiguous to the westerly corporate limits of the City of Vermilion, within Vermilion Twp., Erie County, bounded on the north by Lake Erie, extending from said westerly corporate limits westerly along the Lake Erie shoreline to Joppa Road; southerly along the easterly side of Joppa Road to a point on the northerly side of SR 2; and easterly along SR 2 on a line roughly parallel to the Lake Erie shoreline to a point in the westerly corporate limits of the City of Vermilion, thence northerly along said westerly corporate limits to above said Lake Erie.
East Liberty (Sewer East) shall mean that area of the City of Vermilion bounded as described in “Exhibit A” attached to City of Vermilion Ordinance No. 95-4, passed March 6, 1995, by KS Associates and referred to in said ordinance and description as “East Liberty Avenue Sewer District”.
Erie County shall mean that area contiguous to the southerly corporate limits of the City of Vermilion, bounded as described in Exhibit “A” – Legal Description Vermilion Area Sewer Subdistrict in the East Erie County Sewer and Water District, as authorized in the City of Vermilion Ordinance No. 89-88, passed December 4, 1989. The current agreement with Erie County ends December 31, 2026, and these factors will be considered in any future contract rates and terms.
SECTION 3. This Council finds and determines that all formal actions of this Council concerning and relating to the passage of this Ordinance were taken in an open meeting of this Council and that all deliberations of this Council and any committees that resulted in those formal actions were in meetings open to the public and in compliance with all requirements, including Section 121.11 of the Ohio Revised Code.
SECTION 4. That this Ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety of the City; and the emergency necessity is to provide financial relief to the citizens of Vermilion; and provided it receives the affirmative majority vote of two-thirds or more of those members elected or appointed to City Council, it shall take effect and go into full force immediately after its adoption and its approval by the Mayor; otherwise, it shall take effect at the earliest period allowed by law.