7% water, sewer hike in VBT to be explained Dec. 2

Van Buren Township DPW Director James Taylor will do a presentation on the township’s proposed 7% fee hike in water and sewer rates at the Dec. 2 meeting of the VBT Board of Trustees.
At the board’s Nov. 17 work/study session, Taylor said the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has increased VBT’s rates by 5% and “7% is pretty reasonable based on our cost.”
He reminded board members that the township raised the fee by only 2% last year and absorbed the rest of the costs with the Water Department’s fund equity.
“We can’t keep doing that,” Taylor said.
Trustee Jeff Jahr said he didn’t want the raise in water rates to be hidden by being approved with the rest of the township’s fees at the Dec. 2 meeting.
“Some sort of presentation should be given,” Trustee Jahr said and Taylor agreed.
“Van Buren Township’s is still one of the lowest water rates,” Taylor said.
John Delaney said from the audience that Taylor should explain what the water tower is doing to decrease the rates.
Taylor said the level of water sales is decreasing. He said the economic downturn had a big impact on use of water.
The meeting can be watched live at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 7, on Comcast cable channel 12.
— Rosemary K. Otzman, Editor