Flint’s supplier is raising water rates. City must decide how much to pass on to residents

FLINT, MI — The city of Flint will pay more in water and sewer charges starting July 1, giving officials just a few months to decide how much — if any — of the wholesale price hike gets passed on to residents.

Flint’s supplier, the Great Lakes Water Authority, approved a systemwide 5.9% water rate increase and a 4.5% sewer rate hike at its meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

Specific charges for Flint, which has had historically higher than average rates partly because of the distance from Lake Huron and the city, weren’t immediately released by GLWA.

A spokeswoman for Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley did not immediately comment to MLive-The Flint Journal on the city’s plans on Thursday, Feb. 27.

But Neeley has advocated against pass-through water rate increases since the City Council agreed in 2017 to a 30-year contract to remain a GLWA customer amid the fallout of the city’s water crisis.

The mayor — who opposed the long-term contract while serving as a state representative — has said the GLWA deal needs to be revisited.

Late last year, he told the Journal that the contract amounts to “an undue financial stress on the residents in the city of Flint.”

As Flint has paid more for wholesale water, every other community that buys public water in Genesee County from the Karegnondi Water Authority hasn’t had a single price increase since June 2016.

Flint Councilwoman Judy Priestly, who chairs the council’s Finance Committee, said on Thursday the city can’t continue to pay higher wholesale rates without adjusting the rates paid by residents and businesses.

“We’re at a point where we have no options,” Priestley said. “How it would be structured, I don’t know. It’s one of the things that we need to discuss.”

“Our costs have gone up, and we have fewer people sharing in the cost,” the 4th Ward council member said.

Flint is only remaining GLWA customer in Genesee County. Other communities buying public water are customers of the KWA.

Flint also buys 500,000 gallons of treated KWA water from the county each day.

The county serves as Flint’s backup water supplier and the daily withdrawals — permitted in the GLWA contract — are designed to ensure the reliability and freshness of that county water.

KWA is the public authority that was created by Genesee County and the city of Flint to replace water purchases from the city of Detroit.

The Detroit water system was transformed to the GLWA on Jan. 1, 2016, when the city of Detroit began leasing regional water and sewer infrastructure, as well as water and wastewater treatment facilities, to GLWA.

Flint left the Detroit system in April 2014 as it waited for the KWA pipeline to be completed.

For 17 months, the city used the Flint River as its drinking water source but the corrosive river water wasn’t treated properly by the city’s treatment plant, leading to the water crisis.

GLWA said in a news release that its overall charge increases are designed to address multiple years of double-digit increases in non-discretionary expenses such as chemicals, utilities, and construction materials.

The authority said the cost of chlorine alone has risen approximately 40% in the last 10 years.

GLWA’s budget also reflects the cost of a new corrosion control program at an estimated yearly cost of $6 million and the cost of a flood mitigation study in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The cost of treated water from GLWA is just one element of what Flint residents and businesses pay for water.

Each municipality adds its own costs associated with maintaining local water systems to customer bills.

GLWA provides treated water to nearly 40% of public water customers in Michigan. The authority is comprised of 88 member partner communities.

GLWA’s board includes one representative each from Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne counties, two representatives from the city of Detroit, and one appointed by the governor.