CLEVELAND -- Sewer rates keep going up and up in northeast Ohio, and NewsChannel5 has new information on alleged fraud and theft of taxpayer dollars.

Minority contractors said they're being left out of contracts with the Northeast Ohio Sewer District.

"We've had guys who tried to get work out here for 20 years. They don't want you," said contractor Norman Edwards.

NewsChannel5's Ron Regan reported that the FBI is investigating similar complaints. Taxpayers pay millions for huge sewer projects all over Cleveland, but millions may have been spent on front companies that claim to employ minorities but don't.

"We're very aggressively looking at all the issues of the past. We're looking at front companies, we're looking at pass-throughs, we're trying to bring this down to a respectable program, not a sham," said sewer district director Julius Ciaccia.

The district confirmed that for years it never tracked minority hiring.

"Generally, we have a compliance officer. I don't believe we've had someone in that position for at least five years," said sewer district board president Darnell Brown.

Gary Starr is a sewer district board member who believes the complaints are legitimate.

"Minority contractors and women were supposed to be getting contracts. The question is, were they? And my answer is they were not," said Starr.

The sewer district said it is fully cooperating with federal investigators and it's making sure that minority contractors are not left without jobs in the future.

The hiring practices now under federal scrutiny happened before Ciaccia took over the sewer district last year.