Consumers Ohio Water Co. is offering to lower water rates and pay off $700,000 debt on Brookfield's new water tower in exchange for a 20-year agreement to operate and maintain Trumbull County's water system.

Brookfield trustees are expected to vote tonight on a resolution in support of Consumers' proposal.

Trustee Chairman Phil Schmidt said the proposal was endorsed last week by the county's township association, which has requested all townships also pass resolutions in support of the proposal and send them to Trumbull County Commissioners, who will ultimately decide the issue.

He said he expects trustees to approve the resolution.

County commissioners and county Sanitary Engineer Thomas Halloway are studying the proposal, which was made to them last month.

Customers in Brookfield along with those in Hubbard, Liberty, Vienna and Howland would see a 7.5-percent rate reduction, which would be set until 2006, Schmidt said.

Consumers would pay the $700,000 debt the county owes on the Brookfield water tower. Tap-in fees for customers would also be waived, Schmidt said.

"I think (county commissioners) should at least look at it. It offers a lot to the townships," Schmidt said.

Schmidt said Consumers Ohio offered to operate the system for 20 years and provide $4 million to be used at the commissioners' discretion. The county would still own the system.

The money could be used to extend water lines to new homes at a low interest rate, Schmidt said.

"They will get more water to the people than the county has," he said.

Consumers is a subsidiary of Philadelphia Suburban Corp., a holding company for regulated public utilities that provides water and wastewater services to about 2 million customers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, Maine and North Carolina.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Larissa Theodore at ltheodore@sharonherald.com