Increased water and sewer rates introduced

By Dana Casadei

Water and sewer rates in Bloomfield Township are projected to increase at two and four percent, respectively, for 2025-2026; the same amount they increased last year.

The projected rates were discussed at the board of trustees meeting – along with a few other key considerations – on Monday, March 24, and won’t be finalized until a vote takes place at the trustees meeting on Monday, April 14.

“Humans make things difficult but the math is pretty simple for how the rates are calculated,” said Noah Mehalski, director of the department of public works. Mehalski led the evening’s presentation.

Bloomfield Township residents pay an often higher rate compared to others in nearby communities – something Mehalski said he is asked about quite often – because of size, scale and scope of the system. Since Bloomfield Township’s size is spread out there are fewer people on the system paying into each pipe. Fewer people paying into each pipe equals higher costs when comparing it to say, Birmingham, whose system is one-third the length of Bloomfield Township’s, which has 330 miles of water that have to be taken care of, Mehalski said.

The township owns, operates and maintains over five hundred miles of buried water main and sanitary sewer lines.

Bloomfield Township distributes water to residents that is produced by the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) through the South Oakland County Water Authority (SOCWA), and sewer being provided by the Oakland County Water Resource Commissioner (OCWRC).

There were four other key considerations discussed at the Monday night meeting regarding the 2025-2026 water and sewer rates, including the ongoing meter replacement program.

The meter program is currently in year four of what was projected to be a 3-5 year program. It was originally created to help replace the 52 percent of meters in the township that are over 15 years old, taking advantage of the technological updates to meters, therefore, giving the township the data to better accurately reflect the amount of water passing through the pipes.

This data being collected will be used to improve customer service and drive future

rate considerations, and be a critical component to the future water and sewer rates, including the potential switch to a tiered rate system. Now, the Meter Equivalency Unit (MEU)

structure is being used in the township, which allows for billing of fixed fees based on the potential draw of the system that is determined by meter size.

With a continued focus on the meter program, Mehalski said that they are nearly half complete with replacing the old meters as of February; and will have enough data next year to discuss tier rates and hold study sessions.

“We’re going to let the data tell us how many tiers there are,” Mehalski said.

He noted that he did think that unlike DTE Energy, which only has two tiers, that Bloomfield Township will likely have more.

Mehalski also called out the department of public works plans to focus on hiring an asset manager and transitional planning for whoever takes over that role, as well as the need for board support for capital investment projects, such as upcoming projects that will take place on W. Maple Road and within Vernor Estates. Currently, the W. Maple Road project is in the design phase and will cost $7 million, with the hopes of it being completed within one year; and the Vernor Estates construction project would be split into a two-year project, with each year costing $3 million.

If these projects are done as suggested, the funding will not impact water and sewer rates for residents.

“In my opinion, we want to avoid wild swings in the rates for water and sewer…” Mehalski said. “Unless we bond these projects, and that’s a different animal.”

While a lot was discussed for the board to consider at the Monday night meeting, the main thing Mehalski wanted to present was to get trustees’ thoughts on modifying the MEU for 1.5 inch service lines and grouping those customers with the one inch service customers, in terms of fixed fee charges.

Mehalski proposed covering the $300,000 that will be lost by combining them out of cash reserves to cover this change, which would also help the department of public works pay down its cash reserves, something that’s been in the works the last few years. Then next year they will do a full rate study to further determine if the MEU structure needs to be continued, and what the future looks like for water and sewer rates in the township.

Bloomfield Township customers with 1.5 inch service lines are mostly residential, something that’s very uncommon when compared to communities, such as Livonia, where there are zero residential 1.5 inch service lines.

Since there are so few who would be impacted by this change, both residential and commercial customers with the 1.5 inch service lines would be moved to one inch with this plan, a decision many trustees seemed on board with.

“Thank you for listening to the board, who were in favor of a one group pipe rate last year,” said trustee Neal Barnett. “I’m certainly in favor of incorporating the 1.5 to 1, and certainly in favor of taking the $300,000 out of our reserves to take what’s needed. Everything you’ve presented is very much in line in what we discussed last year… I’m glad to see we’ve seen so much progress in the meters.”

The 2025-2026 water and sewer rates resolutions will be presented to the board of trustees for approval at their meeting on Monday, April 14. If the water and sewer rates are approved at that  meeting they would go into effect on April 1, and will be first applied to billing at the end of April.