MUSKEGON, Mich. — Residents in the city of Muskegon will see an increase on their utility bills beginning on the first of the month, with both a water fee increase and an added debt service fee.
WATCH: Muskegon approves water bill increase to fund maintenance, help eliminate city deficit
According to City of Muskegon's Community Engagement Manager, Deborah Sweet, the changes will help keep day-to-day operations of providing water out of debt.
The Muskegon City Commission voted for this change on July 8.
"They voted to increase the water service fee by $0.23 per unit, which is going to be a total fee of $2.50 per unit per bill per month," Sweet said. "On average, the residents here in Muskegon can expect this fee change to increase their bill by about $1.84 per month."
A few years ago, the city added a "Debt Service Charge" onto utility bills to cover the debt from bonded projects such as lead service line replacements, water tank maintenance, and water main replacements. This fee covers both the water and sewer systems debt.
The debt service fee is a $0.15 increase per bill per month from last year. Each bill will be different depending on usage, but Sweet says the average change will total $1.99.
"The water rate increase helps us fund day-to-day operations for the water department, things like staffing and new and advanced equipment, stuff like that," Sweet said. "The debt service fee helps us create and maintain those major projects around the city."
This could mean the upkeep of the water tanks around the city and any water main repair breaks.
Sweet is confident this increase will impact Muskegon for years to come.
"I think these fees, we all realize they're a burden for a lot of our community members, but we also know that it's really important to keep the city set up for success in the long term," Sweet said.
Muskegon resident Bruce Wright supports the increase.
"I don't mind paying that small amount, because if it means we're going to have safe water and things are going to be clean and taken care of, that's worth a small increase," Wright said.
Over the past few years, Sweet says the city has progressed in digging the water fund out of a negative balance, but it's still below zero.
Moving forward, the city received a state grant to help study water affordability and come up with ways to educate residents on how to conserve water and reduce their bills.
"There is so much that Muskegon has going for it that people really aren't aware of, so anything that we can do to make Muskegon a better place, I'm all for it," Wright said.
While knocking on doors downtown, I found mixed reactions to the increase. Although Wright says he's happy to pay the increase, another resident who spoke off camera said one dollar doesn't sound like a lot, but it quickly adds up.
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