Water & Sewer Rate Increase

In order to balance the budget, the Kinross Charter Township Water and Sewer Department will be raising rates. These new rates will appear on bills sent out in June for usage in May.

Going forward, the minimum bill for residential water will be $8.23 for water and $48.57 for sewer, for a total of $56.80. The minimum bill will apply for all usage up to 6,000 gallons. For each thousand over that, there will be a charge of $1.72 for water and $12.63 for sewer for a total of $14.55. Trash is handled by GFL, and will remain $13.95 with a $2.00 seasonal clean-up fee. Therefore:

• The new minimum bill for trash, water, and sewer up to 6,000 gallons will be $72.75.
• There will be an additional charge of $14.55 for each thousand gallons over 6,000.
• These new rates will appear on residential bills beginning in June.

While Kinross Charter Township has always endeavored to keep our rates as low as we can afford, in recent years rates have been too low to cover the ever-increasing costs of keeping our water and sewer systems up and running. We have been able to make up this shortfall thus far, but are rapidly running out of room in the budget to make up for lack of revenue.

A water and sewer system gets more expensive to maintain the older it gets, and our weather takes a serious toll on our infrastructure. Even in the ground, freezing and heating cause metal to contract and expand, causing wear over time—especially when those changes happen rapidly. The pandemic resulted in increased residential usage as customers who would have gone to work and school stayed home. Supply chain issues drove up the cost of parts and equipment, and inflation raised the cost of just about everything else. Special chemicals are needed to treat wastewater to prevent pollution and contamination of our waterways, but those chemicals have increased in price by around 50%. This represents a massive increase in costs that has greatly impacted the budget.

Funds for the water and sewer department cannot come from any other department or fund. Every dollar is carefully tracked to ensure that money for the sewer department only goes toward legitimate sewer expenses, and the Township is audited annually to check that our books balance. It is one of the fiduciary duties of the Township Board to make sure that every department brings in enough money to cover its costs, and the costs for our water and sewer system have become too high to ignore.

We understand the difficulties that these rate increases may cause for the citizens of Kinross Charter Township, particularly those on a fixed income. However, these increases are unavoidable if we want to continue to provide Kinross residents with safe, clean water. We will also continue to provide some of the lowest rates available for trash pickup through our partnership with GFL, as well as free recycling drop-off in the parking lot of the Township Hall.

The full breakdown of the new rates effective May 1, 2022 is as follows: