A six-member regional water board has approved a deal to lease the city’s water system to the regional authority by a 5-1 vote. The lease with the Great Lakes Water Authority gives the suburbs more of a voice in the water system’s management and is supposed to limit rate increases. The authority will pay Detroit $50 million a year to lease and operate the water and sewer system, plus about $50 million a year toward pension costs and a fund to help needy customers pay their water bills
While years of contention about the water structure may be over, a new controversy has erupted which may split the friendly relations between the three area county executives and the mayor of Detroit. Macomb County’s representative on the authority board, Brian Baker voted against the deal, saying the lease could mean substantially higher water bills for suburban customers. Baker, the budget director for Sterling Heights, was then voted off the board by a 5 to 1 vote which included the Deputy Oakland County Executive.
You can hear the conflict and controversy begin as Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel and Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson talk about it on the Frank Beckmann show immediately after the vote.