By Megan Kelley
Editor
mkelley@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — At its meeting on Oct. 8, the Independence Township Board of Trustees approved the 2024-25 sewage rates. Home owners in the township will see a quarterly increase of $4.44 on their sewage bill. The rate increase was approved 6-0 by the board. Trustee Jim Tedder was absent from the meeting.
Presenting the information to the board was DPW Director David McKee.
“This is one of the most unenjoyable things to do every year but it’s a fact of business, we have to do this,” McKee said.
The rate itself is the same rate that the township received from Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) and from Oakland County Water Resource Commissioners Office, McKee explained, noting that the township does not control sewage rates.
“Every year, they set up new rates for sewage disposal, we pass those rates through. We have been for a few years now, we’re not increasing it to keep a penny in our pocket, it’s a pass through rate,” said McKee.
Rate year is July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.
According to McKee, the new monthly disposal fee is $304,900.67, which is an increase of 3.7% from the last year.
Monthly breakdown is: sewage disposal fee of $304,900.67 along with true up of $9,722.99, bond debt of $49,816.91, creating a monthly total of $364,440.57, and a yearly total of $4.37 million
Divided by total number of REU’s (residential equivalency unit), this comes to $90.94 quarterly plus the $28 standard operating charge from Independence Twp. making the new quarterly rate per REU $118.94
For comparison, last year, the total quarterly rate for each REU was $114.50 quarterly.
“Sewage disposal is very expensive and the rates are what they are,” McKee said. “We’re obligated to pay these rates.”
Trustee Ron Ritchie also reiterated that the township does not have control over sewer rates.
“The sewer is one of the utilities that we don’t have any control over. The only thing we have control over is how many houses we have hooked up to the sewer system. Basically, we’re at the mercy of the GLWA,” said Ron Ritchie.
McKee added that this is the second highest rate he has seen since he started working for the township.
“The more homes involved, you spread the pain out a little bit more. Since I’ve been here in almost 10 years, this is the second highest (rate). We’ve kept it in check but they’re really going after a lot of high dollar repairs that they need. The system is old, they have gargantuan pipes that are underground – nothing about it is cheap,” McKee said.