ROGERS CITY — The water meters in about 900 people’s homes and businesses in Rogers City have served their useful life and upgrades to them are needed, city officials say.

A hike in rates may also be in the cards to help pay for the meters, and other future water and sewer projects.

City Manager Joe Hefele said it will cost $180,000 to replace the meters, but the change is needed because the software that connects the meters to the city is slated to be discontinued. He said if that happens, the city will have to estimate water use, which could lead to inaccurate billings.

The city has two types of meters active and if the project gets approved they will all be the same, Hefele said. He said for the last decade, the city has slowly swapped out older meters.

On the heels of the software news, time is of the essence to address the problem. He said only about a third of the total amount of meters have been changed in the last decade, leaving a lot of work to do.

Hefele said the company who makes the smart meters, Metron-Farnier, has offered to finance the project interest free, and throw in updated meter reading equipment. He said if the Rogers City City Council approves the replacement project, the payment will be $60,000 a year for the next three years.

That money, Hefele said, would come from the water fund, $30,000 a year, and the sewer fund, $30,000 a year.

Hefele said the city had to spend money from the sewer fund for emergency purposes, but overall both funds are healthy. He added there are other large and costly projects on the horizon, so in order to keep the funds strong, and do the capital projects, increasing rates should be considered.

“The cost of these simply aren’t figured into the rates, so we need to have some serious discussions about rates,” he said.

The older a meter is, the more likely it is reading inaccurately, Hefele said. As a result, there are likely people who are paying more than what they should and others not enough. He said new meters will fix that issue too.

“It’s an added benefit, but not the primary reason,” Hefele said.

Hefele said a study was done and the proposed rates would be in line with other communities comparable to Rogers City. He said he didn’t want to reveal what the proposed rates are until the meeting Wednesday.

The meeting is slated to start at 10 a.m.

Hefele said the conversion of the meters could begin late this summer or early fall, and he didn’t want to speculate how long the project would take. He said more details will become available if council votes to move ahead with the project.

Mayor Scott McLennan said no action is expected to be taken Wednesday, but a vote on the matter will come soon.

“Nobody wants to spend money, but it’s something that needs to be worked on before it becomes big trouble,” he said.