Pass the Water Affordability Bill Package!

What is in the bill package for low-income residents?

For households who live at 200% of the poverty level, their water bills would be cut to 2-3% of their income. $1500 in back bills would be forgiven and up to $2500 would be provided for plumbing repairs. There are also protections against water shutoffs and liens on homes. Those who reconnect their home to water after being shut off for inability to pay will no longer be charged with a felony and five years in prison. Instead, they would be charged with a civil infraction and helped to apply for a more affordable bill.

Unaffordable bills can and do become unpaid bills, which result in higher water rates for everyone. A $2 monthly fee per water meter will create a Water Affordability Fund. Those with reduced bills would not be paying this fee. The fund will be used to reimburse the water utilities in Michigan for any loses due to the reduced water rates. Everyone would benefit from more stable prices. It’s a small price to pay for the health of our communities.

Water rates are rising all over the country

Water rates have dramatically increased across the country over the last fifty years. One reason is that the federal government has reduced its support of local water systems by 74% in real dollars. Also, water pipes are aging, and treatment plants need upgrades to protect the quality of the water.

Nationally, communities of color are enduring the most serious hardship. Communities with the oldest broken-down water systems are paying bills that are 10% and more of their income in some areas. But they are not alone. Today the greatest numbers of poor are living in the suburbs. And many rural residents could use the help in this proposed legislation.

Communities in Southeast MI develop Water Assistance programs

A few years ago, after protests of the widespread shutoffs, communities in Southeast Michigan developed a temporary assistance program with the Great Lakes Water Authority. It is called the Water Resources Assistance Program (WRAP) and later the Lifeline (in Detroit). These programs have helped low-income residents through medical or financial crises (and plain old poverty) and provided a pilot program of sorts for the statewide Water Affordability Program.

Blaming the victims for rising water costs

But instead of thanking the most hard-hit communities, like Detroit, for leading the charge against the skyrocketing costs of water and sewer bills, and coming up with the WRAP and Lifeline programs, which help every community in SE Michigan, some politicians, led by Candice Miller, Macomb County Public Works Commissioner, are blaming Detroiters for the rising costs of water! Is it their fault that beneath their homes lie the first laid, oldest, and now broken-down water pipes?

Miller and her cohorts also assert that WRAP is good enough for Macomb and they are waging a ruthless campaign to sabotage the statewide program. She has pressured politicians and demanded the passage of resolutions (which she has provided) against the legislation in city councils, before councilmen and women even knew what was in the legislation. By actively sabotaging the vote for the statewide program, Miller and others will limit benefits to Southeast Michigan and deny these benefits to other residents in Michigan. And there is the small problem that WRAP is not financially sustainable and even residents covered by this program will lose benefits from this program and have less benefits than the statewide program would provide. Don’t let politicians play deceitful games and deprive Michiganders of real long-term assistance they need.

Affordable water is not a partisan issue
Educate your friends and neighbors about this impending legislation which will make water affordable. Call or write your representatives and senators, go to their election events, take your friends with you and demand that the Water Affordability package be made a priority and that they vote to pass it this year. This problem is not going away. Either we take steps towards solving it now and pass this legislation, or we allow our neighbors, the elderly and the vulnerable to continue to suffer. Michigan could be the first state with an affordability program protecting all its residents. Let’s do it!

The Water Affordability bill package includes: House bills HB 5088-5095 and Senate Bills SB 0549-0554 and SB 25.