Mason, MI

Most of the major equipment at the City of Mason’s WWTP dates to the mid 1970’s and some to the late 1950’s.

While the City has been diligent in maintaining this equipment as long as possible, the majority is well beyond its useful life and has become unsafe for our staff to maintain.
Upgrades include, but are not limited to:
• Increase peak capacity from 2.5-3 million gallons of wastewater per day (MGD) to 6-7 MGD.
• New oxidation equipment that can adapt to future growth.
• Two new clarifiers to replace the current outdated clarifiers (no parts are available for repair).
• Updated pump station to house equipment and new filters to meet federal regulations.
• UV disinfection will eliminate the use of chlorine gas and sodium bisulfate resulting in less chemicals in the stream.

The upgraded WWTP will provide an efficient, safe, and reliable plant to serve Mason residents for the next 40- 50 years. Please note that this does not mean the city will never bypass again, but it does mean we will meet the States requirements to handle a 25 year/24-hour (3.9 inches of rain) storm event, limiting bypassing to extreme events.

Effective July 15th, the City changed the rate structure and rates based on the recommendations of a third-party consultant after a water and sewer rate study. Based on the large projects starting, the rate study recommended a ready-to-serve charge to guarantee the revenue to make our bond payments for the Water Treatment Plant (WTP), and Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).

The total project cost for the WWTP project, including cost of financing, is approximately $44,000,000. The City has worked hard to obtain as many grants and other funding as possible to lower the impact on the users. The City has secured 16% in grants and will be utilizing Local Development Financing Authority tax capture of 48%, leaving 36% of the cost to the users of the system.

The Water and Sewer Fund is an Enterprise Fund, and these funds are self-supporting, meaning all revenue generated from user charges must pay for the expenditures of the system.

Everyone will pay the ready-to-serve fees based on their meter size. The American Water Works Association (AWWA) has a meter equivalent calculation for the larger meters ready-to-serve costs. A household normally has a 5/8” meter and that is the base amount for the ready-to-serve costs. All users of the system pay the same commodity charge rate.  The commodity charge for water is $8.75 per unit and the sewer commodity charge is $9.25 per unit (1,000 gallons)

These are the monthly AWWA meter equivalent charges for fiscal year 2023/2024: 

It depends on what other large projects are in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and any increase in financing needs. The water and sewer systems will always have maintenance and replacement costs and will need upgrades as determined by City Staff and the City Council.

The new rate structure removes the meter charge and includes a ready-to-serve charge with a per unit commodity charge for water and sewer. The commodity charge will continue to be based in units where each unit equals 1,000 gallons. The final rates were approved by the City Council on July 3, 2023, and will be reflected in the bills being mailed out July 31, 2023.

Summary of changes are listed below:

• Water Ready-to-Serve will be added at a flat rate based on the AWWA meter equivalent table below.
• Water Charge will be $8.75 per 1,000 gallons.
• Removed: Meter charges, water charge for zero units and Water Capital Improvement charge.

• Sewer Ready-to-Serve will be added at a flat rate based on the AWWA meter equivalent table below.
• Sewer Charge will be $9.25 per 1,000 gallons.
• Removed: Sewer charge for zero units and Sewer Capital Improvement charge.

These are the monthly overall impact for typical residential users:

There will be no ready-to-serve charges on exterior water meters. We will only be charging for water used and, if there is no usage, a bill will not be generated.   

You will pay the flat ready-to-serve charge monthly based on your meter size. You are charged the ready-to-serve charge as the connections are there and ready for you to use.

Many communities charge ready to serve on water and sewer bills. This chart, from the rate study presentation, shows how our ready-to-serve compares to local communities.

Community size, community partnering, CIP, level of service, asset management, lead lines, and water source are examples of what can impact every community’s water rates. Every system is unique and comparing rates is extremely difficult due to these factors, however, a rate comparison chart is below for your reference. The city is aware that many of these communities are also anticipating rate increases due to infrastructure projects in the next 12 months.

Please call 211 or contact Capital Area Community Services at 517-676-1065, or the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services at 517-241-3740 or online: http://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs. These entities have options and resources to help.

Resources: More Questions? Please contact our Customer Service Desk at 517.676.9155 or info@mason.mi.us.