Making Water Bills Fairer
I once had a boss that hung a sign on his door that said: ‘When entering this office, never utter the phrase, “Well, we’ve never done it that way before!”’
When first elected to serve on the Clinton Township Board of Trustees, I learned that when Clinton Township issued water bills, the minimum bill was five units of water. Use five or more units, you pay for what you used. If you used two or three units of water, you paid for five.
“Really?” I asked. “That doesn’t seem fair.”
It was explained that the Township had to cover three different costs:
- the amount of water that our community purchases from the Great Lakes Water Authority,
- the amount of sewage we sent to their wastewater treatment plant,
- the cost of maintaining a reliable network of underground water and sewer lines.
This five unit upcharge on those that used less, was then used to cover the fixed costs of maintaining the system. That meant that one or two-person homes were subsidizing me and my family that used more, by covering our share of the fixed costs.
I live in a four-person household. My short-and-rapidly-thinning hair is low maintenance, so I have the luxury of steering clear of the bathroom used by my wife and daughters, where shelf-space is lined with multiple variants of shampoo, conditioner, lotions and potions! Family dinner means running the dishwasher almost daily…and for whatever reason, if an article of clothing hit the floor, it required a return trip to the laundry room.
We have a lot of one and two person families in this community. That means less showers, less dishes, and less clothes to be washed. Residents, who use less, should pay less.
When I questioned this, I essentially received a response that sounded a lot like ‘this is the way we’ve always done it!’
Finally, in 2019, we hired an accounting firm, to study the five-unit minimum bill and explore other models that allocate costs more fairly.
This led to reducing the per unit amount of water and sewer used. Regardless of all other factors the per unit charge is the same for everyone and you pay for the number of units used. Use less this month than last month, expect a lower bill.
To cover the maintenance costs, a ‘ready to serve’ fee was created, with the fee based on the size of the water line coming into your home. Older homes that tend to be smaller, generally have a ⅝” line coming into the house. Newer and larger homes generally have a 1” line.
Under this new system, almost all households that use less than five units of water in a month, saw a significant drop in their water bill. Most people with a ⅝” water line coming into the home also saw their water bill drop significantly. Those with a 1” line coming into the house saw a plus or minus bill, depending on usage.
The reality of serving in government is that if you raise a bill, expect the phone calls to come in. Lower one….crickets!
When my friend Nancy Ventimiglia, from Woodward Street called, I was very pleased to let her know that the five-unit minimum bill was gone and the new system would lead to some very real savings for her and many other seniors.
