Council Votes 5-0 to Improve Water and Sewer Rates

Get ready for increases in your water and sewer bill if you live in the City of Saline. City Council voted 5-0 to approve increases recommended by Treasurer Sarah Finch. Mayor Brian Marl and City Councillor Nicole Rice were absent.

The increases are expected to meet rising operational costs, debt obligations and capital needs, Finch wrote in her memo to the city council.

A typical residential customer who uses 6,000 gallons a month will see an increase of $10.95 per month, or $32.85, on their quarterly bill.

On the water side, the price per 1,000 gallons is rising from $5.59 to $5.95 - or 6.5 percent.

On the wastewater side, the rate per 1000 gallons is rising from $14.92 to $16.04, a 7.5 percent increase.

There is a ready-to-service charge rising from $30.13 to $32.08 (6.5 percent) on the water side and from $56.69 to $60.94 (7.5 percent) each quarter.

Councillor Dean Girbach said he's voted for the increases for 20 years because "we have to do it" for a system that produces safe, clean water. He said he's on board with the increases, even though he has concerns about the city's heavy reliance on a heavy-using company like American Soy. What he's most worried about is the projections on the sewer side.

One projection is that the quarterly sewer bill will rise from $240 this year to $314 by 2027-28.

"We're talking deficits of nearly a million dollars and don't know what's going to mean in four to five years from now. I need to see projections that take us out past 2028," he said.

Girbach then got into the politics of rate increases. In 2022, for instance, Mayor Marl and then Councillor Jim Dell'Orco, who will rejoin council in January, voted against water and sewer increases.

"We set this on a track five years ago," Girbach said, of gradually increasing rates to meet expenses. "I'm disappointed other individuals did not support this." 

While it seemed as if Girbach's comments were aimed at Mayor Marl, they were kind of mysterious. Councillor Jenn Harmount assumed they were aimed at her.

"I feel like that speech was for me because I'm having a really hard time with this (rate increases)," Harmount said. "It's like assets are not being managed. Now, we have to pay the piper."

Harmount said she was fine with the water rates. But she said the sewer rates were nearly untenable. She compared Saline's sewer rate of $16.04 to Ann Arbor's ($8.99) or Pittsfield Township's ($7.58).

She said high sewer rates are like a multiplying effect on people's bills.

"Every gallon of water that you use, it's a multiplying effect with our sewer rates being super high. And we're talking about affordability in housing. It's unfortunately not fair to people moving in and having to pay these increases," she said. "I am personally stuck in a position where I do not want to see 7.5 percent increases, year after year, and maybe more than that, and I'm not really sure what the plan is to help mitigate that."

City Manager Dan Swallow said the sewer fund debt peaks next year at about $4 million.

The city is building up cash reserves a little right now to accommodate future years with projected negative cash flow.

Councillor Janet Dillon asked if the rates were raised high enough. She said she didn't want people sitting at the council table in a few years, wondering how they were in such a financial predicament.

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