Nov. 21: Committee of the Whole, Cleveland City Council
Covered by Documenter Laurie Redmon (notes)
ARPA funds rescue Clevelanders’ water and electric bills
A utility assistance program spearheaded by Cleveland City Council has run dry. Officials said it helped 4,442 Cleveland account holders pay their water and electric bills.
Cleveland City Council approved the program in 2023 to help customers at risk of having their utilities shut off because of overdue bills stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Council funded the program with $2 million from the federal government through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
According to Department of Public Utilities CFO Catherine Troy, the program helped 1,879 Cleveland Water customers and 2,563 Cleveland Public Power customers. In total, water customers received $758,600 in assistance and averaged $404 per account; electric customers received about $1.2 million total and averaged $484 per account.
Who gets water bill discounts … and who doesn’t
Ward 13 Council Member Kris Harsh started a discussion about the discount program available to Cleveland water customers. Harsh said his ward has many more water customers receiving discounts than wards with lower average incomes.
“We do a lot to try to get people to sign up,” said Director of Public Utilities Martin Keane of the discount enrollments, “and it’s hard.”
After further discussion, Harsh learned that only homeowners, not renters, are eligible for the water discount program. That’s despite the fact that tenants can have water bills in their name. Harsh expressed concern that more landlords are pushing water bills onto tenants and asked Keane why there isn’t a discount program for renters.
Keane referenced pending Ohio House Bill 93, which would require municipalities to collect delinquent utility bills directly from tenants. “The landlords are controlling the Statehouse,” Keane said. He added that many long discussions have been had about how to get discounts to tenants. They have not yet resulted in a solution.
Council members said they’d like to revisit the issue at a later date.
Paid internship program for high schoolers
Cleveland Public Power Commissioner Ammon Danielson shared updates on CPP’s Intern to Apprentice program. It is for local high school students interested in careers in the trades.
Danielson said the program “does go an extra step further than most apprenticeship programs” by offering paid internships. It also teaches transferable skills like pole-climbing and offers a path to commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs). Graduates from the program could make up to $93,000 per year, or $45 per hour.
Council Members Jenny Spencer of Ward 15 and Mike Polensek of Ward 8 expressed support for the program and asked for ways to help promote it.
The application for CPP’s Intern to Apprentice program can be found here.
Read the notes from Documenter Laurie Redmon:
