Elyria approves repair fund for water heaters, HVAC

ELYRIA — The city will have a new source of money to help residents fix their heating and cooling systems and water heaters in an emergency. The program, proposed by Mayor Kevin Brubaker, was approved by City Council on Monday, enabling the city to dispense just over $100,000 to residents to help pay to repair or replace their heating, cooling and air conditioning, or HVAC, systems or water heaters. Funding for the program will come from the energy aggregator Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council, or NOPEC, which has already itself approved the proposal. In the past, Brubaker said, the city has used NOPEC funds for energy efficiency upgrades at city-owned properties, but this would be the first time that those funds were directed back to residents. "Those are the top three things that I have found over my years with the city that will force people out of their homes; if they don't have heating or cooling, or if their water heater is red tagged (marked as unsafe) by Columbia Gas," Brubaker said. "And all those replacements would be energy efficiency related, so that is the reason we decided to focus on those three." Brubaker said he was happy that Council had agreed with him on the potential benefits of the program, and that he was excited to get the fund up and running. NOPEC representatives were equally excited about the idea, the mayor said, and agreed to grant the city its annual energy efficiency funds up front. Typically, NOPEC pays out such money on a reimbursement basis, but Brubaker said it agreed to pay Elyria up front so the funds could get into the hands of residents faster. Brubaker said that because of this, the city would be ready to start advertising the program and accepting applications as early as next week. The city already has an emergency home repair fund, but Brubaker said the new HVAC and water heater program would help the city provide more assistance, and would be made available to middle-income residents, not only those classified as low-income. The existing fund is limited only to low-income residents because it uses federal money and is therefore bound by the income limits of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.