By GLENN WOJCIAK

The Post staff writer

Many area residents can expect to pay a little more to get rid of their trash and sewage in 2012 and some would say that stinks.

The county plans to reach into your pocket for a few more dollars in 2012, although the rate increases coming up are relatively minor. County commissioners approved a 50-cent per month increase in the sewage bill for residential customers and increased the tipping fee $1 per ton for trash hauled to the Central Processing Facility.

Sanitary Engineer Jim Troike said a $1 per ton increase in cost for trash haulers usually equates to about a 15-cent per month increase in residential trash bills. However, the city refuse departments in Wadsworth and Medina and the private contractors who pick up trash in the rest of the county will determine how much of the rate increase they pass on to their customers.

The tipping fee at the CPF climbs to $61 per ton and affects all residents and businesses in Medina County which have agreements to haul all solid waste to the county facility.

The increase in sewer rates applies only to the 37,000 customers of the county sanitary sewer system. That covers a good portion of the county but not the residents of Wadsworth, Seville, Westfield, Lodi and Spencer who have their own sewage treatment plants.

The new rates for most county sewer customers rise from $23.25 per month to $23.75. However, residents of the Sharon Township Sanitary Sewer District will see their rates climb from $28.50 to $29.00 per month. Those higher rates in Sharon Township are the result of higher rates agreed to in a contract with the city of Wadsworth to serve those customers in the Sharon District. All county sewer bills also include an additional fee of $5.50 per month for debt reduction.

According to Troike, Medina County sewer bills remain among the lowest in Northeast Ohio despite the new rate increase which will take effect March 1.

Troike said the county has usually raised sewer rates 50 cents every two years to help meet rising operating costs. However, this is the second year in a row for a sewer rate increase in Medina County because of higher operating costs at the county's sewage treatment plants.

County employees in the Sanitary Engineer's office haven't gotten a pay raise in four years but expenses for electricity, chemicals and other material is still raising operating costs for the sewer district.

"Those treatment plans are high tech facilities and expensive to operate," Troike said. "Treating sewage requires high temperatures and high pressure and both of those things require a lot of energy."

The cost increase at the CPF is primarily the result of higher payments to Envision Holdings which has a contract to operate the facility. That contract calls for Envision to see its percentage of the CPF tipping fees increase each year during the life of its current five-year contract.

Troike said the county's costs at the CPF have actually gone up $1.30 per ton, but the new hike in the tipping fee has been limited to $1 per ton. Earlier this year, the county also added a $1 per ton fuel surcharge for trash dumped or tipped at the CPF. That was to cover the county's rising cost of hauling trash that is not recycled to landfills.

The county also raised tipping fees another $1 per ton in 2010 to finance a $1.2 million loan needed to replace some aging equipment at the CPF.

About 137,000 tons of solid waste passes through the CPF each year.