By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NEW MIAMI - All of the 2,500 residents of this village just north of Hamilton will finally have sewer service by next year.

"This is really big news for New Miami," said Mayor Kenneth Cheek.

Only the Cherokee Park subdivision - about 25 percent of the village population - has sewers. The other residents have septic tanks, Cheek said.

When the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency ordered expensive improvements at the village's outdated treatment plant, Village Council asked Butler County commissioners to replace the plant, install sewers throughout the community and operate the system.

"Finances didn't allow us to build our own plant," Cheek says.

The county Department of Environmental Services will spend $12.2 million to build a pump station and construct 28,000 feet of sewer lines for 800 new customers. Most of the funding comes from grants and loans secured by the village, said Tony Parrott, environmental services director.

Commissioners approved an agreement last week to complete the project by November 2005. Construction is scheduled to begin in October.

Village residents will pay about half the amount they would have for a village-operated system, Parrott said. The average bill will be $33.66 per month, compared to the projected $63.83 average monthly for a village system.

Neighboring St. Clair Township also will benefit. The new sewer district could eventually serve a triangular area stretching north to Seven Mile, Trenton and Ohio 73. Some business along U.S. 127 north of New Miami have expressed interest in hooking into the new sewers, Parrott said.

"Hopefully, we'll have some economic growth from this," Cheek said.

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com