Dear City Council Members, Mayor Keith Mulder and City Manager Adam Smith, 

I’m writing because many residents including myself are concerned about how quickly water and sewer bills have risen. In 2020, the fixed portion of a resident’s bill was around twenty dollars. Today, that same fixed charge is over eighty dollars before a drop of water is used. In addition, the city added roughly twenty dollars per month in mid-2024 and another twenty dollars in mid-2025 for a single household using about 4,000 gallons. For many people, this has meant paying forty to fifty dollars more each month than they were just a few years ago, which is an increase of roughly five hundred to six hundred dollars per year. Understandably, there is a lot of concern about what types of increases may be coming.

I know the city has taken steps to bring in outside money. Grand Ledge has used the state’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to help finance parts of the new water treatment work, and the city has used the Clean Water State Revolving Fund for wastewater improvements, including a portion that came with some debt forgiveness tied to federal infrastructure funding. I appreciate that these applications were submitted and that the city received support through these programs.

However, when many residents look at the scale of the bills and the rapid rate increases, it’s clear the city did not access every funding path available, and some options were not pursued as fully as they could have been. Grand Ledge still has opportunities.

The state’s Drinking Water and Clean Water revolving funds both offer additional assistance for communities dealing with sharply rising utility costs. These dollars can convert part of a loan into a grant, reducing the amount residents pay. My understanding is that Grand Ledge did not resubmit updated cost and billing information to request this additional support. Other cities in Michigan have done this mid-project and received significant relief.

There are also grant opportunities under the Michigan Clean Water Plan that are available to us and do not need to be tied to the entire project. Cities often submit separate applications for individual components and receive money even while construction is underway. Grand Ledge has not yet used this “component-based” approach, which means we may still qualify for funding we haven’t submitted proposals for.

Grand Ledge also qualifies for the federal Water and Waste Disposal Program through the Rural Development Authority. This program could refinance our existing project loans at lower interest, extend repayment periods, and potentially add grant dollars to reduce the total price of the projects going on. This appears to be an opportunity the city has not yet pursued, and it could significantly ease long-term pressure on rates for citizens. 

I want to emphasize that my concern is not that the city has done nothing. It’s that more grant dollars are available still, and some of them can still be used even with construction underway. Given the size of the rate increases and their impact on households, I am asking you to consider pausing any future increases until every possible state and federal funding source has been pursued, including updated applications and supplemental requests.

Residents are simply asking for reassurance that every option has been fully explored before any additional costs are placed on the community. Grand Ledge still has time to reduce the long-term financial burden of these upgrades, and other Michigan communities have shown it can be done.

Thank you for your time, and I would appreciate any update on the city’s plans to pursue these remaining funding opportunities.

Sincerely,
Connor Crank and residents of Grand Ledge