R.C. facing large water system bill

Improving and upgrading the water and sewer system in Rogers City will bring along major changes in the bottom-line bills for those services, an average of up to $25 per month to the average residential customer.

City council members listened to C2ae's Larry Fox, director of operations, describe the scope and the price tag for the $4.35 million sanitary sewer project and the $1.227 million water system upgrade. Fox said financing options may remove a portion of the cost for the sewer project, but only by approximately $1 million.

"These are both costly projects but by using available grant money and a variety of loan or bonding alternatives we could save a portion of the actual costs," Fox said during his presentation at a council workshop Monday night. "There is also room in the sewer project to trim costs by eliminating certain portions of the extension plans. The big ticket, upgrade and remediation of the waste water treatment plant ($3 million-plus) has to be done no trimming there."

Mayor Beach Hall asked Fox what the impact on the average residential customer would be, acknowledging that without large amounts of grant funding the user will pay the balance due.

"It could mean approximate increase of $13.24 per month in sewer charges and a $3.05 increase over current rates for the average utility customer in Rogers City," Fox said. "The bottom line won't be known until actual bids are received and the federal government lets us know how much they will commit. It's a tough nut, but the upgrades are needed as soon as possible or the system degrades."

Fox said the last upgrade done to the WWTP was completed in 1972, more than 35 years ago. He told council members they were living on borrowed time since the treatment equipment usually has a 20-25 year life span.

Councilwoman Deb Green said the whole plan needs to be reviewed to uncover any unnecessary parts of the projects, like extending water and sewer out M-68. She said some of the new work above and beyond the upgrade of the WWTP is needed, but creating dead ends and doing work because new developments and businesses might come into town can wait.

Councilman Gary Nowak agreed, adding the city currently has a surcharge added to sewer and water bills that brings in approximately $90,000 annually for smaller projects. He said that fund can do some of the alternatives he expects will be trimmed from the project.

"I know we need the work; we all want clean water and sewers that work," Nowak said. "A 40 percent increase in utility bills can't contain projects we can do later or do without. Deb (Green) and I agree that we need to trim the project where we can and consider alternative funding to keep overall costs down as much as possible."

Hall said the city could be facing a long-term bill.

"The project's life is a minimum of 20 years and we will be paying on this bill for up to 40 years," Hall said. "I anticipate we can pay this down much earlier with anticipated growth in the community."

The proposed water project will replace all of the 40-50-year-old water mains in the ground, create a looped system and hopefully eliminate the current problems with the delivery system. Fox said this is a distribution project, not storage, well replacement or a supply adjustment. He said the water tower is high on the priority list but can possibly be funded through other grant programs.

"Sticker shock for sure, but there are must-do projects not a shopping trip," he said.

Council could take no action because the meeting merely a workshop, but the projects will be on the Sept. 2 agenda.

Mike Modrzynski can be reached via e-mail at mmodrzynski@thealpenanews.com.