Brighton Township Approves Sewer Rate Increase

Despite opposing comments during a public hearing Monday night, the voted 5-1 to increase township sewer rates.

Beginning May 1, the capital charge will increase by $10 per residential equivalent unit (REU - average amount of water and sewer consumed per household) per quarter, from $70.50 to $80.50. The operations and maintenance charge will remain the same at $90 per REU, bringing the new rate to $170.50 per quarter for water and sewer customers.

Township Manager Dan Bishop said that even with an increase in new water and sewer customers tapping into the line creating an increase in cash flow of $81,000 last year, the sewer fund is still projected to have a negative cash balance of $322,000 by this September.

With this new rate increase, the township should see positive cash flow by 2018; however, if the Township Board did nothing, positive cash flow would not be seen until 2030, according to Bishop.

Bishop said the rate increase will allow the township to continue to make sewer bond payments until it can be refinanced in 2015.

Township Trusee Mike Slaton was the lone dissenting vote. Slaton said he has been voting no on sewer rate increases for 10 years.

"I'm not a believer in increasing taxes," Slaton said. "I believe we have enough money in the general fund. It's sitting there, not doing anything."

Bishop said that sewer and water fund is an enterprise fund and is required by state law to be self-sufficient.

"They're not supposed to be subsidized by the general tax dollars," he said. "The reason being is that not everyone in the township has sewer service."

The tap in fee for new customers is currently $10,200. Bishop said that and other costs associated with joining the sewer line are a financial disincentive to users.

"You get up to $17,000 and the option of rebuilding your septic tank is $6,00 or $7,000, people are going to do what's wise for them financially," Bishop said. "We need to get in the game. We have to adopt new thought processes moving forward to get people to buy into the system."

Bishop said there was no plan currently in place, but it is something he is working on.

Township resident Mike Palmer expressed anger that the Board of Trustees failed to require water and sewer hook up at the new Michigan State Police building.

"You had the opportunity to sit down and negotiate and I don't care if it's a deal breaker, the bottom line is that you're stiffing your own constituents out here," Palmer said. "That's 1,700 users because of your failure to go out and do your job and work for the people in this township, not the state of Michigan and not the developer. Shame on you."

Township Trustee Jim Kovitz said he feels just as frustrated as residents and the board has been talking and trying to find cost effective solutions.

"I just want to say, you may not see anything on the outside, but part of that is that there's no options," he said. "We're tyring to work every angle. Some of these options, they're not good options, but they're the only options we can play around and use right now to try and find out what's going to fit our model. We're spread over a large area and we're set up with a program from years ago."

The board action was recommended by the Utilities Committee, which reviewed the current and projected financial condition of the sewer funds at its Nov. 14 meeting. The committee, along with the township board, reviews the financial condition of the sewer funds quarterly.