Highland Park City Council “conditionally” approved this week the state-brokered deal to settle the city’s estimated $55 million water and sewerage debt with the Great Lakes Water Authority, the regional water agency the city has battled in court for a decade.
City officials now hope the legal battle over its water and sewerage bills can end in June. The council’s approval came one week after it refused to vote on the final agreement, contending the Wayne County city wasn’t given enough time to read the agreement that is over 250 pages.
“Let’s get this monkey off our backs,” Councilman Khursheed Ash-Shafii said before the council approved the agreement Monday night.
The conditional part of council’s approval is having a third-party set up a trust agreement that will handle the future payments of the city’s water and sewer services. The current trust agreement in the deal was written by GLWA, city officials said.
The change has already been discussed with GLWA officials, according to City Clerk Brenda Green.
“Actually, that settles the whole deal,” Green said during the Monday council meeting. “We are totally in agreement with the state and everything they have done to support Highland Park.”
GLWA officials didn’t respond Wednesday to requests for comment.
In October, the state brokered a deal to end litigation over the roughly $55 million in disputed water and sewer bills. The Highland Park City Council later that same month approved the term sheet of the deal. The tentative agreement is between GLWA, Highland Park and the State of Michigan.
The water and sewer contracts that are a part of the final agreement are between GLWA and Highland Park.
The outstanding debt has roiled Highland Park for almost a year. Before the state-brokered deal, the city sought state permission to declare municipal bankruptcy. Highland Park officials said state officials recently denied that bankruptcy request while reaffirming the state’s financial commitment to the city and GLWA.
The state support includes $70 million for upgrading Highland Park’s water infrastructure and $30 million for repairs to the GLWA’s regional system in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties.
Highland Park officials have contended more than 90% of its residents and business owners pay their water and sewer bills. But the city’s aging infrastructure, which includes some water mains made of wood, has numerous leaks. The city also maintains the Great Lakes Water Authority overcharged the city because it relies on unmetered estimates of water use.
Many Highland Park residents are seeing higher water and sewer bills due to the tentative agreement approved in October. The deal added a charge for construction debt and future maintenance costs for six months, according to the agreement.