Resolution

Chang pointed out the city of Detroit would be the largest contributor to the program.

Under the state bill package, Macomb County property owners would pay at least an estimated $7 million from the $2 per month addition to water bills, which would put further strain on Macomb residents, “especially to those on fixed incomes,” Miller said in her letter.

The county votes on the package have been mostly partisan, with Republicans opposing the bills and Democrats in support.

In Macomb, seven Republicans and one Democratic board member voted against the plan. The Republicans were Chair Don Brown of Washington Township and Commissioners Phil Kraft of Chesterfield Township, Joe Sabatini of Macomb Township, Don VanSyckel of Sterling Heights, Barbara Zinner of Harrison Township and Sylvia Grot of Shelby Township. Harold Haugh of Roseville was the only Democrat to support the resolution.

Kraft and Sabatini co-sponsored it.

Voting against the resolution were Democrats Sarah Lucido of Eastpointe, Antoinette Wallace of Mount Clemens, Michelle Nard of Warren and Mai Xiong of Warren.

Several people spoke against the resolution and in favor of the state bills during public participation at last week’s meeting. Most of the speakers also spoke at a prior meeting when the board tabled the matter.

Susan Diliberti of Clinton Township pulled out $2 in coins from her pocket and told commissioners they could pay the fee with change they receive from purchasing items at stores.

“We’re talking about $2 per a month for my water bill, or anybody’s water bill,” Diliberti said. “That’s $2. That’s 50 cents a week. I think I would be I would be thrilled to pay this to help anybody who needs to maintain water in their household.”

The bills have gotten support from many nonprofit organizations, such as Clean Water Action, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, United Way of Southeastern Michigan and American Waterworks Association.

Lauren Marks of United Way urged commissioners to vote against the opposition resolution. She said United Way’s 211 call center “has seen a surge in need for water-bill

assistance and home plumbing repairs.” In Macomb County over the past year, United Way has received nearly 17,000 calls from people looking for resources, with 600 seeking water-bill assistance, she added.

“There is a growing need for assistance here in this county that you represent,” Marks told the board. “Water requests currently rank at the top of the list in assistance sought by residents throughout our regions. But when families can’t access assistance they are subject to shut offs or financial penalties which present an immediate threat to health, well-being and safety of our most vulnerable residents.”

The bill package would “create a dedicated source of funding, while also setting affordable rates, provide shut-off protection, arrearage forgiveness, fund plumbing repairs and offer wrap-around services for those most in need,” Marks said.

Also speaking in favor of the bills and against the Macomb board’s resolution was Matthew Phillips of Shelby Township, who is chief of staff and chief customer service office for the Detroit Department of Water and Sewerage and former chief operating officer for the Michigan Heat and Warm Fund. Nearly 10% of households in Macomb County live at or below the poverty level, he said.

“The legislation does not prescribe free water,” Phillips said. “The customer must still pay a portion of their bill. This is associated with their income.”

But Miller has pointed out that those in Macomb County who need assistance already can get it through the Water Residential Assistance Program (WRAP), which operates under the Great Lakes Water Authority and is administered here by Macomb Community Action.

While funds have been available in the program in past years, the need has been skyrocketing and if requests continue to increase, the program will run out of money this year, according to county Health and Community Services Director Andrew Cox. The need has nearly tripled over the past five years, from 323 households in 2018-19 to 924 households last year.

“That’s a significant jump in people using the service,” he said. “If that number continues to grow, we’ll have to look at other programs to help those individuals.

“We need to continue to serve residents in need and treat people with dignity and respect. The goal is always to help people.”

Part of the reason for the increase in those taking advantage of WRAP has been expiration of a program that helped the bills during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

Cox added the WRAP program spent all of its money last year while in some prior years money was returned.

WRAP in Macomb provides $800,000 per year in assistance to fund up to $100 per month in credits against a water bill, $2,400 total in arrearage assistance and $2,000 in plumbing repairs, to eligible households.

Miller said WRAP funding could be doubled and still only cost the average household only $5 per year, not the $24 per year under the water-affordability bills. Officials said, however, that could only be done by changing the contract between more than 100 communities

and the GLWA.

Assessment of the fee isn’t fair, Miller also argued, pointing out a large commercial business such as Walmart would pay the same as a residential user.

Miller said Detroit’s Lifeline Plan would benefit the most from the fee. That program has allowed 40,000 households to pay $18 a month for water and sewer services, according to Miller.

“Detroit wants the rest of us to pay a second fee to pay for their costly plan now that one-time federal COVID dollars have expired,” she said.

But Phillips said that program “has erased over $45 million of debt and helped pay water bills for their low-income customers over the past 18 months.”

Miller has also complained that the funds would go directly to the service providers to spend indiscriminately. She pointed to a comment in the “Bridge Michigan” publication last year by Gary Brown, director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, who said the $65-$70 million raised will go “directly into the utility’s coffer, so that we can hire more people, we can buy material, we can do the engineering and design of a more resilient system.”

The bill package was introduced by four Democratic state lawmakers, including Chang and state Rep. Donovan McKinney of Detroit who represents Center Line and part of Warren.

In addition to the cap on low-income residents’ bills, the proposed legislation would:

Create a task force to advise the state Department of Health and Human Services on implementation of the program and identify additional funding.

Allow the fund to accept philanthropic donations.

Establish shut-off protections for Michigan residents whose health conditions require access to water. It requires that a water provider notify a customer who is facing shutoff at least four times through a mailing, door knock, phone call, and/or text message.

Protects customers who are attempting to enroll in a water affordability plan or who makes a minimum good faith payment. The bill establishes a triage process with the customer to identify barriers to re-enroll the customer in an affordability plan.

Allow a tenant to request their water bill be transferred to their own name.

Decriminalize water reconnections after shutoff due to financial hardship, decreasing it from a five-year felony to a civil infraction.

Chang said lawmakers have been making changes to the bills based on feedback they have received.

One change is to place a limit on water use for those receiving assistance via the state program. Local water providers could place a cap of between 600 and 800 cubic feet of water per month for a family of our or less. It would increase for larger households.

Another change is the WRAP charge — typically about 10 cents — paid by households would be deducted from the $2 per month charge.

Chang said she expects statewide support of the bills and hopes for passage this year.

A forum on the bill packed sponsored by Chang and McKinney was expected to be held Monday night at the Salvation Army in Warren.