Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Hartland Township Trustees on Tuesday voted to spend $10,000 on a third-party firm to assist with a five-year water rate study.

"We know there is going to be some kind of an increase in rates, in water rates. Just like anything else, the cost of everything increases," said Mike Luce, township manager. "The staff will be working on this as well. We'll all be part of this, but at this point, I think our best option is to have the study done."

"When I say water rates, I'm talking commodity rates," Luce added. "I'm not talking about a meter charge, or RTS charge, or anything like that. There are a lot of different moving parts to a water and sewer bill, but our water rates are historically low, and have held for as long as I've been here. So, almost five years, they have had no increase to them."

As part of the contract, Municipal Financial Consultants, or MFCI, agrees that the scope of services is to perform a detailed review and analysis of the Township’s water fund, provide a final summary of work to outline any necessary rate increases and present findings to the Township Administration and Board as needed.

The Township will use the water reliability study from Spaulding DeDecker for future CIP needs and timing.

The Hartland Township Board agenda and video of Tuesday's meeting are linked below.