A mediator has helped settle a nasty fight between city and county officials over operation of the Metropolitan Sewer District. The dispute strained the relationship between the two governments and stalled work on several sewer projects.
Cincinnati City Manager John Shirey and Hamilton County Administrator David Krings announced Tuesday that they have found a method for settling a disagreement over the allocation of administrative costs. The deal also lays out a process for setting MSD operating budgets.
The agreement must be approved by City Council and county commissioners. Commissioners are expected to OK it today , and council is likely to act at its next meeting Aug. 6.
Once the deal is signed, MSD can move ahead with a bond issue that has been delayed for $70 million to $80 million in sewer projects. Included are projects to relieve chronic flooding in hundreds of homes such as a $4.4 million storm-water retention tank in Covedale and a replacement sewer in Cleves.
"This agreement is an example of the city and the county sitting down and working out their differences in a way that benefits the (sewer) ratepayers," said Mayor Roxanne Qualls.
County Commission President Bob Bedinghaus said the county is pleased with the results.
"It's not important to determine winners and losers as it is important to move forward with MSD. . . . The real winners in this process are the Hamilton County ratepayers of the Metropolitan Sewer District," he said.
The fight began in March when the county accused the city of overcharging MSD for its overhead to operate the district. MSD is owned by the county, which contracted in 1968 to have the city run it for 50 years. The county said the city wrongly took $2.2 million in sewer customers' payments last year to reimburse the city's cost of providing support services.
The city said it acted properly and denounced the county's position as a thinly disguised attempt to take control of MSD.
The city and county hired a mediator, Conflict Management Inc. of Cambridge, Mass. The tab, according to the city, is $21,500. The new agreement says neither side will dispute overhead charges taken by the city or the county before 1996.
It also says the two governments will hire a consultant to help create a formula for overhead charges to be used starting in 1998.
