Rogers City raises water rates 5%
ROGERS CITY, Mich. — A majority of Rogers City residents will soon see a rate increase on their water bills.
The City Council voted in favor of the a 5% increase during Monday’s meeting.
City Manager Joe Hefele told WBKB two main factors played a role in the decision.
The first reason is to help standardize the city’s water meters, about half of which are Badger–brand devices.
These meters run on obsolete software that would cost residents far more if the system ever crashed.
“The problem is once that Badger system goes out, we can’t read those [meters] anymore. That’s the end of it, like I said. The only way to bill people [would be to] estimate what they’re using.”
Hefele said the rate increase will help the city afford to replace those Badger meters with the Metron models used by the rest of the city.
The second reason for the raise is to better meet operational costs.
