News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Suez operations and maintenance tech employee Richard Kroll monitors work at the water plant in Alpena on Wednesday.

ALPENA — It appears people in Northeast Michigan with past-due water bills will receive ample time to pay up before their water service is interrupted.

When the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Oct. 2 that many of the coronavirus-related executive orders issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were invalid, it nullified one order that prevented water shutoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That means local governments that didn’t receive payments from a state municipal water system assistance program were given the green light to begin charging late fees and cutting off service.

Thus far, Northeast Michigan officials are in no hurry to begin shutting off water to businesses and residents, but customers are being urged to begin to pay down their past-due balances to avoid complications down the road.

On Tuesday the Rogers City City Council voted unanimously to hold off on shutting people’s water off or charging the standard 5% late fee until Jan. 1.

City Manager Joe Hefele said letters will be sent notifying residents that they have until the new year to square up their account.

He said 62 customers are behind and some of them are businesses, but he did not specify which businesses are behind or how much is owed.

Rogers City Mayor Scott McLennan said businesses and people have suffered greatly during the pandemic and council members believed it was only right to give them adequate time to bring their account balance back to zero.

“It is a tough time for everyone, and we felt it was important to give everyone a grace period to catch up,” McLennan said. “We can’t offer them forgiveness on the debt, but we can offer them more time. I think that was the best thing we could do.”

Alpena, meanwhile, is receiving money from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to make up for revenue lost because of non-payment. Therefore, the city can’t begin to shut off water until 90 days after it receives payment for each customer.

City Engineer Rich Sullenger said the Alpena Municipal Council hasn’t yet decided what to do when the city meets its obligations to the state.

“We will have to get direction from the council as to when we are to recommence shutoffs,” Sullinger said. “I think it would be at least 90 days after we receive payment for everybody.”

Harrisville has about 330 water customers and has not utilized the state funding program. Mayor Jeff Garhing said that, for the most part, everyone is paying their bills. When there is an issue, the city contacts the customer to see what it can do to help, he said.

“We very rarely have shutoffs,” he said. “If there is an issue, we will call and help them make arrangements to pay and work with them any way we can. We have a lot of seniors, and we know they often struggle, so we do what we can to help.”

Alpena Township considered using the state program to recoup funds lost from non-payment of bills, but the township board changed its mind when it saw some of the fine print. Township Supervisor Nathan Skibbe said that, at this point, the township is still abiding by the governor’s order, but a review and plan is coming soon.

“Discussions are forthcoming with the board as to what direction we will take in regards to delinquent payments,” Skibbe said.