“This administration works for you, the residents,” stated Mayor Sheldon Neeley at a March 5 press conference.
“We have a strong budget, one of the strongest budgets in the last two decades here,” he stated. “We presented it to them to make sure that you will be insulated from any increase from our water provider. They said no.”
Neeley stated that his administration presented numbers to the council.
“They asked for more numbers, but it gave them an opportunity to make an excuse to not protect you, the residents. So you, your families need to be able to weigh in on this. It will be a council meeting on Monday. I encourage you to come down to witness where they are. Ask them the point blank question: ‘Are you proposing that our water rates go up or not?”‘
The GLWA water contract was put in place in 2017 for 30 years.
Neeley stated a water rate increase of about 12% in the last nine months has been passed on to the city of Flint from the water provider. He said with that water rate increase, the City “insulated” the residents by putting $2 million in the Water Stabilization Fund.
“We don’t have all the answers to be able to perform saying how do we get beyond the level of increase from our water provider, but we’re working toward that. But in the meantime, we need to insulate you, the voting residents of this community, the bosses of this community from water rate increases.”
Regarding several council members stating they were hesitant to approve the administration’s proposal because they were unsure of the exact amount that was left in the ARPA fund, Neeley said the following:
