By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - Butler County is ready to start installing a badly needed sewer system in the mostly low-income Venice Gardens subdivision in Ross Township. But some residents say they won't be able to afford the assessment fees.

The average assessment fee for property owners will be $3,830. Federal, state and county grants lined up by the Butler County Department of Environmental Services reduced that amount from $9,530.

But some residents say the cost still is too high.

"My husband and I will probably have to move from there," Jean Wagonfield, president of the Venice Gardens Residents Association, told county commissioners Thursday at a public hearing in Hamilton.

But Tony Parrott, director of the county Department of Environmental Services, said the county has reduced the assessment fee as much as possible.

"We think we've maximized the grants," he said.

The $3,830 assessment fee could be paid off in one lump sum or over 40 years at 4.75 percent interest. The monthly payment for the 40-year financing arrangement would be $18.

In addition, the county will reduce the connection fees from $1,850 to only $40 for property owners who hook up to the sewer system within the first six months service is available. The average monthly residential sewage service fee would be $22.52.

The 325 property owners who could be served by the project have five days to submit questions or comments to the county. If the county determines that a majority of property owners want sewer lines, the $3.1 million project will begin in August. It would be completed next May.

It's generally recognized that Venice Gardens is in dire need of sewers. Residents have complained that some septic tanks have stopped working and some yards contain raw sewage.

The neighborhood received water lines just four years ago after septic tanks contaminated most of the water wells.

The Venice Gardens Residents Association filed a lawsuit over this sewer project in January against the county.

The lawsuit, filed in Butler County Common Pleas Court, says the county violated its own plumbing code and zoning regulations by allowing Venice Gardens to be developed. Most of the houses were built in the 1960s.

The association wants the court to order the county to extend sewer lines to Venice Gardens without charging them installation and connection fees. The lawsuit is still unresolved.

The pump station and trunk line in this project would be big enough that this sewer system could serve other developing Ross Township areas. Parrott emphasized that the costs of over-sizing were not being passed on to the Venice Gardens residents.

E-mail skemme@enquirer.com