FLINT, Mich. — A request to use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars to cover an anticipated water rate hike failed to make it to Flint City Council after questions arose about its sustainability.
“Our plan was to stabilize the rates for [fiscal year 2026]. That will give us a year to develop a plan for what we’re going to do in 27,” said City of Flint Chief Financial Officer, Phillip Moore, in a March 24, 2025, Flint City Council Committee meeting. “If we don’t transfer the funds to 26, then we’re going to be looking at…rate increases.”
Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley’s administration introduced a proposed budget, hoping council members would support using $2 million in ARPA funds to cover a 5.9 percent water rate increase from the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA).
Under the proposed budget, the $2-million request would help city officials avoid increasing water rates for residential, commercial and industrial customers for at least a year.
Moore said the city is working on a long-term plan, but he couldn’t disclose details.
“We are developing a plan for that,” he said during the meeting. “We’re not ready to discuss anything at this point. It’s something which, realistically for utilities, you have to look at every single year.”
Flint residents haven’t had a water rate increase since 2015. Moore says that the lack of increases hasn’t kept up with rising costs and outstanding bills as the city navigates strategies to alleviate water debt.
“The system is beginning to get a little stressed because our costs keep going up,” Moore said. “But we’re doing the best we can to keep the rates the same for the customers.”
Flint City Council President Ladel Lewis, Vice President Candice Mushatt, and Councilmembers Judy Priestley and Leon El-Alamin voted in favor of moving the reallocation request to Flint City Council, while members Dennis Pfeiffer and Jerri Winfey-Carter voted no. Tonya Burns and Jonathan Jarrett were absent.
Council members who voted against the proposal cited concerns over the lack of a long-term plan.
“It sounds good. It sounds like it’s going to be progress, but it’s not,” said Pfeiffer. “There’s nothing about stabilizing the fund for next year or the year after. So, what water funds is this stabilizing?”
In 2017, city officials signed off on a 30-year contract with GLWA after a failed attempt amid the Flint water crisis to connect to a cheaper option. The initial plan was for Flint to connect to the Karegnondi water line coming from Lake Huron after it was completed. That never happened. Flint eventually found itself reconnected to Detroit’s water, and facing a multimillion-dollar debt as residents refused to pay for water they couldn’t use.
The reconnecting issue was carried over to an incoming administration in 2017, which grappled with the contract but ultimately voted in favor of the agreement.
“That contract was a farce from the jump, in 2017,” said former Flint City Councilman Wantwaz Davis. “Please don’t be surprised that the water rates [are] going to go even higher years to come. The water stabilization fund…I believe it’s a farce too. But… the $2 million, that’s going to help the residents. You should help the residents… Even if it’s for a year.” Davis said he was against the 30-year GLWA agreement, but he lost his seat to Winfrey-Carter in 2017. Winfrey-Carter voted in favor of the 30-year contract.
GLWA water rates are determined by distance and elevation, meaning the further away a municipality is, the more expensive its water is. Flint ranks 10th in having some of the highest water bills in the nation, paying an average of $140 per month for water and sewer.
This year’s GLWA increase follows a 10-year commitment to cap hikes at 4%. The increase is expected to take effect on July 1, 2025.
The 30-year agreement has limited the city’s ability to move to a cheaper option, and some council members see the proposed plan as the only way to prevent the costs from being passed on to Flint water customers.
“KWA customers have never had a rate increase since they connected. I want residents to understand this, but we were forced,” said Priestley. “I was against signing the… 30-year GLWA contract. It really upset me as a resident of the city, that we were tied to a agency to provide water, that we were at the farthest end, and so now we have to pay increase after increase after increase, and the city is absorbing those increases … this stabilization fund is the only way to stop the residents from getting an increase of at least 5.9% on their water bills.”
According to a March 24 email statement from Neeley’s office, the administration will continue to look at options to “shield residents” from water rate hikes, but warned of continued rising costs.
“Let’s be clear: the rising costs imposed by the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) are not going away,” read the email statement. “Without this stabilization fund, Flint families could feel the full weight of these increases, hitting households already working hard to make ends meet.”