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At a public meeting hosted on October 16, 2023, the Saline City Council heard from its financial advisors on the results of the 2023 Utility Rate Study. The rate study considers both current operational needs of the water and sewer utility, as well as planned capital improvements to both the system and plants. The study is designed to identify the rates necessary to both sustain reliable operations, and meet the improvement needs of the system moving forward.
The resulting recommendation was a 5% increase in both Ready to Serve (RTS) and Commodity rates for water, and an 8% increase for both RTS and Commodity rates for sewer services.
Original projections in the previous utility rate study estimated the 2024 need of a 25% increase to sewer rates and 3% increase to water rates for 2024. The revised increase of just 8% for sewer rates reflects the impact of the $5 million direct appropriation from the State of Michigan and $6.2 million-dollar principal forgiveness through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.
Notable investments for 2024 include additional water main lining to improve water clarity, and cleaning and lining sewers to improve system wide resilience. Residents can learn more about planned capital improvements through the City’s transparency portal available at https://city-saline-mi-projects.cleargov.com.
City Council is scheduled to vote on the recommended rate increases at its meeting on November 6, 2023. If approved, new rates would go into effect January 1, 2024. Rate increases were last put into effect June 1, 2022. To help residents better understand the impact of annual rate changes on their average utility bill, the City has made a new bill estimator tool available at: https://www.cityofsaline.org/departments/treasurer/water___sewer_information.
In addition to the annual rate recommendations, the City’s utility billing team is recommending a shift to quarterly billing cycles that align with the calendar year. This is both for user convenience to tie cycles to a standard calendar year quarter and to ensure that individual billing cycles do not span two separate fiscal years of the City. To begin this process, the last utility bill of 2023 will be extended through December 2023, with bills mailed on January 31, 2024, and due on March 1, 2024. This will result in a billing cycle that contains four instead of three months. All future cycles will align with a standard calendar year quarter system as follows for 2024:
- Quarter 1: January 1- March 3, bills delivered April 30, due June 3, 2024
- Quarter 2: April - June 30, bills delivered July 3, due September 3, 2024
- Quarter 3: July 1 - September 30, bills delivered October 31, due December 2, 2024
- Quarter 4: October 1 - December 31, bills delivered January 31, due March 3, 2025
The City encourages residents to reach out with any questions or concerns regarding the upcoming rate adjustments and changes to the billing cycle. Information regarding the new rates, billing processes, and additional details will be made available on the official city website.
For more information, please contact:
City of Saline Utility Billing
Phone: (734) 429-4907
Email: waterbilling@cityofsaline.org
Website: www.cityofsaline.org
