Davey says city ‘dropped the ball’ by not warning residents
By Barb Pert Templeton
When Algonac taxpayers recently opened their water bills, they found an unwelcome surprise in the form of what’s been described as a “huge” increase.
In fact, the 20% increase in water rates and a 50% increase in sewer rates is something that was discussed at a trio of council meetings in the spring and was included in the fiscal year 2025-2026 budget in June.
The increase in quarterly water bills amounted to $33 more each month for users.
During public comments at the council’s most recent meeting on Sept. 2 several residents addressed the council regarding their water bills.
Lori Barrett said she felt she was there speaking for a lot of residents and sharing their shock over the recent bill.
“No heads up, no flyer with the water bill, nothing ahead of time or what they’re doing with it and why?” Barrett asked. “And why the hike is so huge, I believe 50% for sewer and 20% for water.”
As a rule, Algonac officials don’t respond to concerns expressed during public comments so instead they addressed the issue during their own council comments at the end of the meeting.
During those comments Mayor Pro Tem Dawn Davey said it was true, “a ball got dropped that should not have been.”
The Algonac City Council meets on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 6 p.m.
She said since then she’s heard from a lot of people, including her husband, who were shocked when they opened their water bills.
“A ball was dropped; everyone should have known this was coming,” Davey said.
The rates were discussed but contrary to rumors around town it was not a 90% increase, she added.
“I’ve seen that put out there a couple of times and that was a rate that had been discussed during one of the budget sessions and it’s not 90% although the rate increase still hurts,” Davey said. “There’s nothing that I can say other than I apologize.”
The water bill that residents got this billing cycle was something Davey said she discussed with City Manager Denice Gerstenberg and she learned it wasn’t for the full billing cycle.
“Can we please make sure we send something out to residents to let them know,” Davey asked.
“And I hate to say it but the next bill’s probably going to be a little bit higher because it’s going to be the full billing cycle.”
Gerstenberg than asked Davey if she wanted something printed on the water bill itself. Davey replied that the water bills have already gone out.
“It’s our job to make sure everybody knows the best that we can, especially over something like this. This is a big deal and I apologize it will not happen again.”
Algonac Mayor Pro Tem Dawn Davey
“By the time they get the (next) water bill the first thing they’re going to see is oh it went up again?” Davey said.
Davey asked it the city could send the residents mailers or something to let them know in advance.
Mayor says council shares the blame
Mayor Rocky Gillis said he understand the frustration of miscommunication but if the ball was dropped it’s on everyone at the table because they were elected by the public to inform them of what’s happening.
“We made the best decision we could; as far as the notification…,” Gillis said.
“The ball got dropped,” Davey interjected.
“But I don’t know if there’s a good way to communicate with anybody anymore,” Gillis said, noting regular mail is often tossed out and some people don’t open their emails. “It’s hard, the communication thing is hard.”
While she acknowledged that she understood the mayor’s point Davey said in the past the city was able to let everyone know about other issues, so why not this one?
“It’s our job to make sure everybody knows, the best that we can, especially over something like this,” Davey said. “This is a big deal and I apologize it will not happen again.”
“This isn’t just we want a bunch of your money so we can work on projects,” Davey added. “This is so we can have an operating plant.”
To clarify things further Davey created a post on her page Light Up Algonac on Facebook:
FYI-There is a major point that was discussed during council comments that I need to make sure everyone is aware of- The billing cycle for the water/sewer bills we got last week started June 9th thru August 11th. The issue is that the rate increases weren’t due to take effect until July 1st. After speaking to the city manager about that she said that the bill reflects those 21 days being calculated at the rates BEFORE the increase. Our next water bill will be higher because the entire billing cycle will reflect the increase and this water bill didn’t…which is kind of why I figured the rate increases would show up on the next bill and not this one. So, the city manager was asked to put out a notification to all of the residents the reasons why our next water bill will slightly higher, and explain the reasons why, BEFORE the next bill comes.
