Water Rates Will Go Up Slightly in Wyandotte

Wyandotte residents’ water bills are going up about 60 cents a month on average starting Oct. 1.

The Wyandotte Municipal Service Commission adopted the rate hike on Aug. 23, and members announced it Monday night.

City officials delayed a rate hike in 2010, but to operate the plant and cover costs, they said they can’t delay it again, as advised by the city’s financial auditors. The water department also plans to cut costs through reduced overtime, operating costs, supplier negotiations and by not filling jobs when vacancies occur.

Even with the increase, the city still will have water rates “substantially” lower than most Downriver communities, including Grosse Ile, Trenton, Taylor, Riverview and Lincoln Park, according to Melanie McCoy, general manager of .

The water rate for Wyandotte’s residential customers will increase 10 cents per 1,000 gallons to $1.26 per 1,000 gallons, as of Oct. 1.

“We are facing a lot of unfunded, mandated sampling,” Bill Weirich, head of the city’s water department, said.

The water samples are tested for pharmaceuticals and other substances the federal government is researching in the nation’s water supply, and cost the city about $20,000 a year, he said.

Water usage in the city is down about 6 percent, McCoy said, due to residents using low-flow toilets, showerheads and other ways of conserving water.

Wyandotte, which offers its own water service instead of buying water from Detroit as other suburbs in the area do, also is talking to other local communities about selling water to them once their contracts with Detroit are fulfilled—a move that would help keep Wyandotte residents’ costs down.

The October utilities bill is going to be increased in other areas, too. Some residents will see 12 percent increases to cable and Internet bills, and electricity rates are projected to increase 3.38 percent on Oct. 1 and then another 3.27 percent effective April 1.