VBT raises water rate by 8.5%, sewer rate by 4.9% for 2021

At its regular meeting, via Zoom, on Oct. 6 the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees voted unanimously to raise the township’s water and sewer rates starting Jan. 1.
Water rates will go up 8.5% and sewer rates 4.9%. The raise in rates was discussed for more than two hours during the recent board budget meetings and is considered necessary by the board.
For a household that uses 20,000 gallons a quarter, water rates will increase about $20 per quarter, according to calculations by Water and Sewer Director James Taylor.
Supervisor Kevin McNamara said the township met with consultants who did a $30,000 in-depth study of water and sewer needs and a raise in rates was proposed to provide for long-term sustainability.
Trustee Sherry Frazier said the township gets water from the Great Lakes Water Authority and it charges the fee for the water and raises rates regularly.
Director Taylor said this year GLWA has a 3.1% rate increase for VBT and the new water rates are for more than that.
“We need the increase to operate our system,” Taylor said, noting infrastructure is needed as the system ages. “Water rates pay for everything we do in water and sewer. There is no tax revenue. It’s all from the rates people pay for what they use.”
Taylor said there are programs to help people who can’t pay for their water.
He said VBT’s rates are still among the lowest in the area and the township’s ranking depends where other municipalities end up with their rates for next year.
“We’ll be near or at the bottom,” Taylor said.
“We’re a hair’s breadth from the bottom,” Supervisor McNamara said.
When asked to tell how the water tower helps keep the rates low, Taylor said since the tower went into full operation in 2012, it has reduced the township’s water costs by $1.5 million a year.
GLWA charges more for water drawn over the limits during the daytime, so less-expensive water is drawn at night and stored in the water tower for use during the daytime.
He estimated that the water tower cost $8 million to erect and it has more than paid for itself.
In other business at the hour-long, Oct. 6 meeting, the board:
• Approved a request by Clerk Leon Wright to use up to $15,000 of the $19,400 grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life for $100 per person hazard pay for his poll workers. He said he has 123 workers now and may get up to 150 by election time. Clerk Wright said he has learned that the City of Detroit is paying poll workers $600 a day and some of his former workers are going there. He said most communities are using hazard pay for poll workers;
• Held a public hearing on the 2020 Amended and 2021 General Fund Budgets, the 2020 Salary Wage Schedule, Special Revenue Funds, and the 2020 Amended and 2021 Proposed Water and Sewer Budget, with no members of the public speaking. The budgets will be up for approval at the next township board meeting on Oct. 20;
• Approved the supervisor’s reappointment of Doug Peters to the Local Development Finance Authority (LDFA) with a term to expire Aug. 12, 2024;
• Approved the supervisor’s reappointment of Peter Creal to the Environmental Commission with a term to expire Oct. 1, 2023;
• Approved the supervisor’s reappointment of Byron Kelley to the Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals as an alternate with a term to expire Oct. 1, 2023;
• Approved the supervisor’s reappointment of Medina Atchinson to the Planning Commission with a term to expire Oct. 1, 2023;
• Approved a Fireworks Display Permit Application by Michigan Fireworks Club for a display from 5 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 17 from 39701 Price Rd. This is to test new fireworks to be used at the Dec. 4 fireworks display for Winter Fest;
• Approved a Fireworks Display Permit Application by Michigan Fireworks Club for a display at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 4, from the (closed) Denton Road bridge for Winter Fest;
• Approved the first reading of Ordinance 10-06-20 (1) to allow and create regulations for single family detached dwellings at a density of 6-7 units per acres as permitted by right in the RM, Multiple Dwelling Residential District. This is recommended by the planning commission; and
• Heard Clerk Wright thank Barbara Zysk-Berman of the League of Women Voters who came to work for him for a day on the election. He said as of Oct. 6 the township had sent out 9,472 absentee ballots and received 2,578 back. He said the number they have sent out is close to 50% of the township’s registered voters and there is still time to request an absentee ballot. He asked absentee voters to send in their ballots as soon as possible. The state has granted the opportunity to start prepping the ballots the day before the election, but they can’t tabulate votes until election day. Getting the prepping done ahead of time will help a lot, he said.