ESCANABA — Residents with concerns or questions about intended changes to Escanaba’s water and wastewater rates will have a chance to be heard Thursday during a special meeting held at city hall at 5 p.m.

“As part of ongoing efforts to ensure transparency and open communication with customers, the City of Escanaba is inviting the community to participate in the discussion about the necessary changes to water/wastewater rates. The adjustments are crucial to support infrastructure improvements, comply with regulatory requirements, and continue providing reliable services,” the city said in a press release issued April 17 announcing the meeting.

During a budget work session held April 7, Escanaba Water and Wastewater Superintendent Jeff Lampi indicated the city would be increasing wastewater rates by 5% and water rates by 8%, starting July 1. Both utilities are charged a ready-to-serve availability fee based on the type of service reaching the home, with an additional usage fee for both utilities based on the metered consumption of water.

For the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the metered rate for water was $6.53 per 1,000 gallons, plus the availability charge, which ranged from $35.99 per month for the smallest service lines to $1,797.83 for the largest service customers. Wastewater was billed at a rate of $9.27 per thousand gallons, plus an availability charge that ranged from $21.94 per month to $1,095.36, depending on service size. The rates represented a 4% increase in wastewater fees from the prior year and an 8% increase in water fees from those seen in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

The 8% annual increases aren’t unusual, nor should they be unexpected. In 2022, the council voted to set the stage for increases of up to 8% in water and wastewater over the next 30 years to fund projects. The vote came just a few years after double-digit water and wastewater increases to meet costs related to the state-mandated replacement of lead service lines.

Here is a breakdown of water and wastewater year-over-year increases over the past 10 years:

2015-2016

Water: 3%

Wastewater: 3%

2016-2017

Water: 15%

Wastewater: 3%

2017-2018

Water: 8.4%

Wastewater: 8.99%

2018-2019

Water: 10%

Wastewater: 10%

2019-2020

Water: 45%

Wastewater: 20%

2020-2021

Water: 35%

Wastewater: 35%

2021-2022

Water: 4%

Wastewater: 30%

2022-2023

Water: 0%

Wastewater: 25%

2023-2024

Water: 4% increase

Wastewater: 3%

2024-2025

Water: 8%

Wastewater: 4%

The city has pointed to a number of reasons for the continued increases, many of which are related to aging infrastructure, changing state and federal regulations, and the increasing costs of materials. However, the city has also indicated that water usage is down across the city, partly due to customers cutting back on usage to save money and partly due to more efficient fixtures and appliances in residents’ homes.

“The cost of maintaining and upgrading drinking water infrastructure is undeniably increasing, driven by massive replacement needs, regulatory mandates, and economic pressures supported by national estimates totaling hundreds of billions in required investment. This creates a significant funding challenge, often translating to rising costs for consumers,” City Manager Jim McNeil wrote in a memo published April 16 in response to criticisms of the rate increase. “Proactive planning, strategic investment prioritizing critical needs, exploring efficiencies, and securing adequate funding are essential.”

The city has repeatedly pointed to grants it has received for major infrastructure projects in both the water and wastewater departments. However, it was noted during the budget work session that the city will likely be bonding to support continued upgrades.

“There’s a number of larger items that we’re going to have to bond — kind of bundle and bond. Both funds don’t have the cash to take on that much work all at once. Typically, utilities can go two ways: you try to cash fund all of your work or you can bond out, bundle and bond. If we were to trying and cash fund everything it would be very, very large rate increases for many years,” said McNeil during the session.

No information about the impact the proposed bonds would have on resident’s property tax bills has been made available. However, McNeil indicated the water department was looking at issuing a bond in the upcoming fiscal year, specifically because the water fund could run into negative cashflow this year with increases in the cost of items like filters.

No bond is currently planned for the wastewater department for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, though bonds are expected for the department in the future.