Page 8 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

Communities refuse to pay Highland Park’s water debt

By Sarah Shurge were going.
$54 million dollars! That is what “The minute we go out and turn
the City of Wayne community along water valves, it makes those homes
with 87 others is paying in accumu- uninhabitable. There are 9,000 peo-
lated debt for a project repair that ple in the City of Highland Park. In-
was supposed to be completed in dividual people. Most of those
three to four days, but never was ten households are paying their water
years later. bills to the city. So we’re not going to
In 2012, the State of Michigan re- create a public health crisis over two
quested the then Detroit Water and governmental entities having a
Sewerage Department (DWSD) to charge dispute,” said Coffey. Coffey
provide short-term emergency water explained GLWA knows what their
services to Highland Park after the charges to Highland Park are, and
State of Michigan determined the what Highland Park is paying them.
city’s water treatment plant was cre- However, what Highland Park is
ating a public health risk to its resi- charging their residents, GLWA does
dents and was in need of repairs. On not know. “That certainly is some-
November 12, 2012, the repairs to The Conference of Western Wayne, representing 18 communities, had their regularly thing from a legal perspective that we
the plant were to be completed scheduled meeting in the City of Wayne last month, where they passed a resolution are wondering: why is it that we are
within three to four days per the not receiving what we are owed for
State of Michigan, but that never to not pay anymore of Highland Park’s debt to the Great Lakes Water Authority. that portion of the charges,” said Cof-
happened. Instead, an emergency the State of Michigan to reimburse million dollar debt and 73% of the fey.
order was put into place to provide the communities for the almost $14 debt allocated to Wayne County,” Highland Park has a history of
water services to Highland Park million that has been paid towards said Sellek.. paying less than they are supposed
through the regional system. That this debt. There was also a mention of re- to, and GLWA has tried to take legal
was nearly ten years ago. The CWW Board also called on fusing water services to Highland action against Highland Park multi-
Since 2012, Highland Park has the State of Michigan to create a sys- Park brought up at the CWW meeting ple times before.
paid less than 1% of its water service tem where this situation of debt and along with questions about where
charges, 50% of its sewer charges, communities being charged the debt Highland Park’s resident’s payments See Debt, page 17
and has accumulated 54 million dol- cannot happen again in the future.
lars in debt for both water and sewer “We support healthy communi-
services. ties. We want you to thrive. So if
Highland Park’s debt has been al- there is a community that is in dis-
located to the 87 Great Lakes Water tress and it needs us to provide
Authority member communities in- water for three or four days, that's
cluding the 18 communities in West- not a problem. This is what we
ern-Wayne County or approximately would do for each other,” said
730,000 customers. On March 11, Suzanne Coffey, GLWA Interim Chief
2022, City of Wayne Mayor, John Executive Officer. “But the fact that
Rheasa, who is currently serving as the resolution wasn't going to be ex-
the chair of the Conference of West- peditiously enacted, after those three
ern-Wayne (CWW), and hosted the 18 or four days, that's where it became
CWW communities where this issue very problematic. There should have
was discussed at great length with been, in that moment and time, a
representatives from the GLWA in at- much bigger discussion about what
tendance. Members of the CWW was going to happen going forward.”
voiced their opposition over the cur- “For the conference of Western-
rent situation with Highland Park Wayne’s portion, up through June
and impressed upon the GLWA to 1st of this year, we will have paid
find a better solution and also return 14.6 million dollars,” Jordyn Sellek,
the money back to the communities. CWW Executive Director. “This is
Speaking as one unified voice, the 27% of the entire total of the 54 mil-
CWW Board voted in favor of the fol- lion dollar debt.”
lowing: the State of Michigan and the Sellek explained that 19.8 million
GLWA not to require the 87 member dollars were allocated to all of Wayne
communities to pay for Highland County and the CWW is paying for
Park’s debt to GLWA; the CCW com- 73% of the debt allocated to Wayne
munities will not pay anymore to the County.
debt; the State to become involved in “By the end of next year if things
resolving this dispute; the State to go forward as they are currently, we
develop a long-term infrastructure [CWW] will have paid 16.4 million
solution to address the water and dollars. And those percentages still
sewer issues in Highland Park; and stay the same: 27% of the entire 61
8 · April 2022 · The Wayne Dispatch