There is a problem with sewer billing on West St., but it turns out it’s on a much smaller scale than originally believed and it’s the village’s issue, not the township’s.
Bottom-line, one West St. home was being double-billed for sanitary sewer services.
It was being charged by both the township and village when in reality, the township is the correct billing unit.
‘We’ll be refunding their money,? said village Manager Joe Young.
According to Young’s calculations, this residence will be refunded $1,416 for 60 months worth of village sewer billings, plus $96 in interest, for a total of $1,512.
In early December, officials began investigating the sewer billing situation for five single family homes and one duplex located along the west side of West St., located between Dennison and W. Burdick streets.
Initially, it was believed all six properties were being incorrectly billed by the township and as a result, might be owed significant refunds for decades of payments.
Although all six homes are located in the township, just outside the village limits, they’re connected to the village sewer system and, based on township records, have been since between 1973 and 1976.
Officials thought two homes were being billed by both the township and village, while the other four residences were being billed by just the township.
It was initially thought all six homes should be billed by the village alone because it’s the municipality is providing the sewer service.
However, based on extensive research conducted by township Clerk Curtis Wright, it turns out that assumption was wrong and the township is the correct billing entity for all six homes.
That’s because the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner’s Office (WRC) is charging the township for the estimated amount of sewage flowing from these six properties on an annual basis. ‘I have information that they are billing us,? Wright said.
The township is, in turn, simply passing this cost along to the six West St. properties via its billing process just as it does with the rest of its sewer customers.
To not bill them would result in a loss for the township’s sewer fund that would ultimately have to covered by other customers, according to Wright.
‘If we were to stop billing them, that would mean whoever’s on the township sewer line would be subsidizing those people’s sewer use,? he explained.
Because the sewage is technically flowing into the village’s system, Wright said the municipality does receive a credit with regard to what the WRC charges it for sewage usage. Since the village isn’t being charged by the WRC, like the township is, there’s no basis for it to bill any of the six properties because there’s no overhead cost to pass along to those customers.
In addition to the double-billed residence, the village will be refunding a total of $321 to the other five residences because, as Young explained, the village started billing them a couple months ago when this whole situation was brought to light.