How to Reduce Your Ludington Water Bill

[XLFD]

Late this last year, a perceptive individual came to me with a question about how they figure out the water and sewer rates in Ludington.  They also told me what they had been told by water and sewer workers, and was concerned about the overall fairness of the whole scheme, particularly with his usage of water.  Here's a little background before we proceed with the particulars.

Back on December 21, 2009 the Ludington City Council jumped the water and sewer rates dramatically (19% and 6% respectively) for city residents, at the same time making the rates go up at the rate of inflation each year thereafter.  They included language in this Ordinance 207-09 so as to never have the rate go down, or up by more than 4%.  This was that part of the ordinance that jumped the water rates, very similar to the sewer rate increase:

Since the passage of the 'water' ordinance (coincidentally, on the same day the 'fire' started at the Ludington Torch), the water rate has risen from $1.20 per 100 cu ft. to what will be $1.55 in 2014 (nearly a 30% raise), and other restrictive ordinances imposed on the city have made using city water practically inevitable if you live in the City limits, cross-connections and wells being eschewed in a couple of other ordinances coming out around the same time.   Even though the sewage rate did not increase as badly (around 10%) the sewer rate remained greater per 100 cu. ft. than the water rate, and since both are keyed to inflation, will remain so.

It should be noted that one of the first city revenue enhancers that City Manager John Shay proposed in his career was to raise the water and sewer rates about 10% back in 2004 and other water utility increases, but it was defeated at that time by a more responsive city council.  There are indications that this was an annual debate until the 2009 ordinance was passed. 

 

My fellow citizen was around when employees from the water department were installing the new water meters-- advanced technology that would allow the water department to just point a device at the vicinity of your new meter from the comfort of their city vehicle as they drive by.  He inquired about how the sewer usage gets monitored if only water meters are used and was told that the water reading is used for the sewage reading also. 

This gave him pause, because it was summer and he was using a lot of water for watering his lawn and his hot tub, which would drain outside.  Because of this and a variety of other summertime uses of water which spiked his water bill during that time of year, he asserted that such a billing scheme wasn't fair to him and most people.  The water people insinuated it is-- what it is.  And they left.

I did a FOIA to corroborate that fact and it was verified, the water usage is said to equal sewer usage, as noted on this record showing current rates and how the bill is calculated:

There are plenty of cities with water utilities that offer some sort of fairness to those people that use a lot of water for irrigation and other uses where the water does not flow down the pipes; a quite common method is to use the average winter use as a benchmark, since almost all uses of water in winter end up as wastewater.  Even cities in southern states like Texas use this method:  City of Lubbock Water-Sewer. 

But I can see this being a problem here in Ludington since we have a lot of summer tourists and there are several seasonal houses in the city limits.  A common means of fairness in other cities involves the water customer having the option of getting an extra meter for 'outdoor use', where they get charged only for the water they used, and no sewer charges, as explained for this Massachusetts town:  Town of Holden Water-Sewer.

 

 

The good news here in Ludington is that this second meter option is available, just like it is in Holden and many other cities.  But it isn't well known about.  So if you use water for your pool, hot tub, irrigation, etc. and the water ends up not going down a pipe connected to the city's water system, you can pay the city a reasonable $20 to install a 'lawn meter' where the water you use will not be charged a sewer rate.

 

 

The $20 charge should be recovered quite quickly if you water your lawn regularly or have a garden or have kids that like to play in the water when its warm.  For each 100 cu. ft. of water you use, you will save $1.74, so by the time you use 1150 cu. ft. of water (8600 gallons) you will have gotten back your money spent.  This means if your sprinkler uses 10 gallons per minute, you will get back your investment after 14 hours and 20 minutes of use, or fill your hot tub with 430 gallons of agua twenty times. 

 

Everybody should know how they use their water, so unless you rarely use water for outdoor purposes, It is probably a good idea to get that second meter installed.  This is  particularly true if you live in Ludington only during the warmer months and use the majority of your water for outdoor purposes.  It quickly pays for itself and could potentially save you over 50% on your water/sewer bills.

[XLFD]

Typically most homes have one spigot they use for outdoor applications, and so the meter hookup would be easy.  Other homes may have a couple (one for the front and back yards) or more, so a little handyman know-how and some extra PVC and connectors going through the basement and you're where you can hook up one meter for outdoor use. 

Undoubtedly, those of unscrupulous persuasion might extend the savings as you mention, but let's not forget that both meters are being monitored, and the water department has your water usage history, and so if you are using a lot of your water from the outdoor meter in January, then you may find yourself getting called out by the water boys.

And once again, EyE, you are missing the viewpoint.  The City of Ludington, as we speak, are charging you probably a lot of extra money during the summer for sewage while you are not even using it.  This is what the crooked thing here is; all that water you're putting on your lawn is not costing you $1.55 per 100 cu. ft. but instead $3.29 per 100 cu. ft. 

[dowland]

City water can and will be used for extra tax revenue.  It is what a lot of municipalities are doing; a tax that can be raised at any time.   It is why Ludington outlawed wells, and they tried to tell us that it was ground water contamination.  We are fortunate to have lower water costs than most places because we have Lake Michigan. I am still trying to figure out why Ludington has two guys to read meters while down south it takes one guy. 

[XLFD]

It's disappointing that Ludington raised our water and sewer rates dramatically right in the midst of a recession, makes the rates keyed to (positive only) inflation so that the consumers never see relief, while making the City the sole provider of water-sewer by legislation. 

And what do we get out of it?   $1.5 million put into unnecessary water tower maintenance, and a wastewater treatment plant that is effectively poisoning the PM Lake each summer because of long term neglect that we will likely be paying extra for in the future to correct.   

[Willy]

Well done X. Very informative.

[XLFD]

Thanks and be sure to pass this information to your friends and neighbors that use a lot of water for their gardens, lawns, and pools. 

[krazzz]

I don't think this is really a secret as my parents always had a second meter for irrigation since I was a kid. Now, a good number of my neighbors have a second meter. The catch that I didn't see mentioned is that you are also charged the additional monthly service charge no matter if you use any water or not. However, with that said, you will NEVER hear me complain about water prices in Ludington. I have lived in several different states recently and the prices here are amazingly cheap. I pay 75% less per month here. At my last house I paid $24 a month, just for the privilege of having a water line hooked to my house. Even then, the water was no where near the quality it is here and I would never think of drinking it unfiltered out of the tap. We never know how good we have it here until we move away. 

[XLFD]

It shouldn't necessarily be a secret, but you would be surprised that a lot of people don't know how they get charged for sewer rates, figuring there is some meter or some fanciful algorithm rather than just using the same number your water bill is for quantity used.  Then oblivious to the fact that you can eliminate the bigger sewer charge you use during the summer by getting an outdoor meter.  I haven't seen this topic in the local media, and figured other people were in the dark like I and this other knowledgable person was.

Ludington does have comparable rates to other local municipalities along the Lake Michigan shoreline, they may even fall under the median in price.  But I will always complain about humongous price raises during recessionary times, when the general public is already getting soaked, and at the same time the management decides to put $1.2 million into painting water towers the same year-- when they are not scheduled for repainting until at least 2020.