WEST BRANCH – The West Branch City Council opted in favor of a water capital improvement plan that includes an annual budget of $300,000 and future that could increase water rates and build the steps to several new water infrastructure utilities.
The council revisited the water improvement issue at Monday night’s regular meeting at West Branch City Hall, with a public hearing centered around the water rates related to capital improvements listed on the agenda.
The agenda also included an option for changing the structure of the city’s sewer rates.
Mike Engles of Michigan Rural Water was present at the meeting to present the council with three options to vote on, dubbed “Option A,” “Option B” and “Option C.”
Ultimately, the council selected “Option A,” which was based on $300,000 being “budgeted annually for water capital improvements.”
According to Michigan Rural Water, “Option A” would keep the capital improvement plan budget healthy while building reserves for future projects that would extend beyond items already budgeted, which include a backup well, additional water infrastructure improvements and repairs, and a possible iron-removal plant.
This means township customers will pay 1.5 times city rates for both ready to serve fees and gallons used, with those using zero to 10,000 gallons charged $5.23 per thousand gallons, those using between 10,001 to 100,000 gallons being charged $5.75 per thousand gallons and all those higher being charged $6.28 per thousand gallons.
The Michigan Rural Water study also shows that Ready to Serve fees will increase, as well.
“Option B” would have been based on $210,000 being budgeted annually for water capital improvements, while “Option C” would have been based on $256,000.
After four council work sessions, the council’s consensus on sewer rates opted for “Option 1,” a different option that is based on sewage collection and sewage treatment rates.
The Michigan Rural Water document shows that the sewer fund “does not currently have a long-range Capital Improvements Plan that is lacking in adequate funding,” so existing sewer rates were simply re-structured to match the new structure that would come into play for water rates.
