There’s some uncertainty about water in the Village of Lake Orion.
Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with the quality of the water, but rather where it will come from and how much it will cost.
The village currently gets its water from Orion Township, which purchases their water from the City of Detroit. Reports have circulated in recent weeks that the price of water from Detroit will soon be on the rise.
With that in mind, the Village of Oxford approached the Lake Orion Village Council to see if Lake Orion had interest in purchasing its water from its neighbor to the north.
The Village of Oxford has its own well system and treatment facility and decided earlier in October that they wanted to try to expand their service area.
The issue was on council’s Oct. 22 agenda.
‘Our council is extending this to you as a back-up or alternative water source,? said Oxford Village Manager Joe Young, noting the water being offered is of high-quality and that the village has a third well on site that is larger than the two they are currently using.
Oxford’s system is over 30 years old and, in a previous report in The Review, Young indicated that selling water could help them finance anything from updating and expanding the existing plant or the construction of a new facility, which could cost over $2 million.
The village currently pays Orion Township $2.09 per 100 cubic feet of water, while the Village of Oxford charges $17.20 for the first 2,000 gallons and $3.25 for each 1,000 gallons thereafter.
Village Manager JoAnn Van Tassel said that converting the gallonage charge to cubic feet results in a charge of $2.43 per 100 cubic feet from Oxford, or $0.34 more than what they currently pay.
‘The rate that the village charges to its customers is based on two factors,? Van Tassel said. ‘A ready to serve charge, in other words what it costs the village to provide water to the property line, and then a usage for the actual gallonage or cubic feet that each particular user would use.?
In addition to the cost, other issues raised by Van Tassel were the cost of extending Oxford’s watermain to Lake Orion, and who would pay for it, and the likelihood of terminating the village’s current agreement with the township.
There is a distance of about 1.5 miles from Oxford Village to Lake Orion, which includes the jurisdictions of both Oxford and Orion townships.
‘My recommendation is to decline to pursue obtaining water from Oxford Village because of the cost and the number of issues for which there is no information,? Van Tassel said.
She said it would be extremely difficult for the village to get out of any current agreement they have.
‘There is a provision that you can opt-out of this contract at any time, however, you must pay over the life of the contract for whatever water they calculate you would use as a user,? Van Tassel said. ‘You talk about a drop-dead provision, that is certainly it.?
‘Everybody is having a problem with some of the provisions in the contract,? she added of the ongoing discussions with Detroit.
Tom Biehl, of Hubbell, Roth & Clark, agreed with Van Tassel’s assessment, noting that Detroit is seeking 30-year renewals for contracts that are up.
Biehl said the average system increase for Detroit water users is expected to be around 7-percent, noting that charges for some communities could decrease slightly, while others could increase up to 20-percent based on their new model.
‘I have not seen those numbers for Orion Township or Lake Orion,? he said.
In spite of this uncertainty, the council agreed unanimously not to proceed with the option presented by Oxford, with a motion saying they may pick it up again at a later date.