The Detroit City Council held a budget hearing for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) on March 13, 2026, at approximately 6:00 PM. Director Gary Brown presented the proposed FY2027 operating budget, which includes a 3.5% system-wide rate increase, new infrastructure programs, and staffing additions. The hearing covered affordability, capital projects, and customer service improvements. Public comment was limited to one minute per speaker.
Well, thank you for your patience. I know we're about an hour behind on this particular hearing, but uh Director Brown, you're used to that. You know how these hearings go. I've been on both sides of the seat. Thank you for having me. I uh Gary Brown, director of the Detroit Water and Sewer Department. I've been through at least four of these uh budget hearings sitting where you sit. So uh however I I don't remember being here at 6 o'clock in the evening, but I've got about I've got about a half billion dollars worth of line items to go through, and I'm gonna try to go through them as quickly as possible. Um can I start out by maybe having my fantastic staff introduce themselves in their the title of their position Scott? Good afternoon, uh City Council. My name is Scott McGriff. I'm the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at the Detroit Water and Sewage Department. Good afternoon, honorable council. My name is Lashonda Davis, and I am the director of finance at DWSD. Good afternoon. Uh my name is Mr. Garalman, I'm the Chief Financial Officer at DWSD. All right, I'm I'm hoping we're going to be able to pull up the uh the presentation. I've got somebody here to run it, so she's so now they're loading it up. So I'll I'll get started and they'll they'll catch up with it. Okay. Floor is yours. In alignment with the uh honorable Madam Mayor Sheffield's vision, the DWS the executive team considers these factors in developing this budget. Affordability. Keep rates increases below four percent and support water conservation initiatives. Uh I think the uh the mayor said to me you were very good for the last 10 years at keeping the rates below 4 percent when the lease required it, and I expect you to continue to do the great job that you did. So you'll see that we stayed under 4 percent, even though the lease agreement does not require that anymore. Compassionate and responsive customer service expanded through providing service in neighborhood-based hubs and working with the administration uh to model holistic services on a wide citywide basis. So I see um I I can envision uh working with the administration. Maybe we'll try to find a church in every one of your district seven churches, and we'll put our customer service representatives along with other city representatives that provide services so that we can have a hub rather than having people come downtown uh at an inconvenient location. We'll have hubs all over the city in order to be able to deliver uh services. All DWSD needs is an internet, uh customer service rep with a headset and a computer, and we can do anything uh from that site that we can do uh from the office. Operations that support and preserve public health, meet or exceed all federal, state, and local regulations. We do that uh as a course of business. Employee and asset safety. I've I've I've been to enough funerals uh in my time with the city, especially in the police department, that I don't want any of my employees to be seriously hurt or die in one of these holes that they're trying to repair an asset. So safety is a big concern. Water and sewer upgrades, including lead service line replacement, flood mitigation, and increasing regional projects in the city by advocating on the Great Lakes Water Authority Board of Directors for Detroit residents. And then finally, employee focus, training, retention, and recruitment. Here's the highlights of the budget that I'm gonna address. The proposed FY 2027 operating budget was developed with the goal to keep the rates affordable, and at the same time, not compromise on service level initiatives. The budget incorporates expenditures required to operate DWSD, both the water and sewer uh portions of the operation. These expenditures become the basis for determining determining the revenues required to operate and in terms and is termed as revenue requirement. Departmental or direct expenses increased by $1.4% or $6.1 million, and non-departmental or indirect expenses increased by 3.3% or $13.4 million over 2026. Revenue finance capital is projected at $5.3 million, an increase of $3 million. The increase in revenue requirement of the $22.5 million for 2027 is primarily due to increases in the Great Lakes Water Authority wholesale charges, $13 million or $57.8%. Also personnel expenses, $4.8 million or $21.3%. Personnel cost increase due to the addition of a net 15 new positions. These new additions are primarily for the operations and are critical to improving DWSD service level and backlog reduction. The total system wide revenue requirement of $543 million $543.8 million is offset by non-rate revenue of $24.1 million, resulting in a rate revenue requirement of $520 million.