(WWJ) – Officials in Macomb County are calling on the Great Lakes Water Authority to issue a $25 million refund to the communities that have “unfairly absorbed” Highland Park’s unpaid water and sewer bills.
Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel and Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller said in a letter to officials in affected communities the entire $25 million amount in new federal funds allocated by the state to the regional authority should be refunded to the 111 communities in southeast Michigan that have shouldered Highland Park’s bad debt.
Highland Park has not paid for water in a decade, stemming from a dispute about the cost.
Hackel says Highland Park’s failure to pay that debt has resulted in a $54 million increase for 111 communities in Southeast Michigan forced to pick up the slack.
Hackel and Miller say Highland Park leaders claim the city “alone has the right to pay in perpetuity the same fixed GLWA rate it paid over 25 years ago.”
“Despite years of litigation, appeals and prior State involvement, the amounts owed have only grown with possible court judgments likely bankrupting that community,” their letter says.
Hackel and Miller have been calling on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer since March to get involved and find a solution to the controversy, which Highland Park has been fighting in the courts.
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Last week the governor said in a letter to GLWA Interim Chief Executive Officer Suzanne Coffey that she is “troubled” by GLWA’s recent announcement that a rate increase is partly due to the ongoing collection dispute with Highland Park. In that letter, she urged the GLWA to pause the portion of the rate hike linked to Highland Park’s past and ongoing costs and to use the $25 million in funding to invest in infrastructure.
Whitmer has since said she has encouraged GLWA and Highland Park to work toward a mutually agreeable resolution and that she would not take a side in the dispute, according to Hackel and Miller.
“We appreciate the Governor’s May 11 response to the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) regarding the $54 million unfairly billed to 111 communities for unpaid water and sewer charges by Highland Park officials. We share the Governor’s frustration, as well as the frustration of the community leaders and their 4 million ratepayers,” Hackel and Miller said.
Officials say while the $25 million is less than half the amount the other communities have had to pay, it is “a good first step.”
Judge David Groner recently ruled that Highland Park, which stopped paying all charges from GLWA to that city, must make at least partial payments.
In recent weeks, elected officials in a growing number of communities in Macomb and Wayne counties have voted to withhold – starting in July -- their municipality’s share of payments to GLWA that cover Highland Park’s debt.
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