ESCANABA — The Escanaba City Council voted Thursday to approve the city’s fiscal year 2025-2026 operating budget — a fiscal plan for the city that hinges on substantial increases in utility rates.

Following the fifth and final public hearing on the budget, the council voted to approve the budget, though the ordinances setting the rates for utilities will not be officially approved until a special meeting set for Monday, June 2, at 9 a.m. Because the budget will not be balanced if the utility ordinances are not adopted, the June 2 meeting is largely a procedural formality, and residents can expect the rate increases included in the budget to go into effect starting July 1.

Those increase will include a 5% increase in wastewater rates, an 8% increase in the rate for water, and a 3% increase for electricity. No increases are planned for solid waste removal.

While few people attended a special meeting held to discuss the water and wastewater rates that was held earlier this month — and those that did largely spoke in support of water and wastewater projects that have contributed to the hikes — the rates have been met with open hostility from many residents. Much of that hostility comes from the consistency of rate increases from the water and wastewater departments.

Between 2015 and 2025, water rates increased a total of 222.82% over 2014 rates, with many years seeing double-digit year-over-year increases, the highest of which was a 45% increase in the 2019-2020 fiscal year. Wastewater saw an even larger increases in the period between 2015 and 2025, with a cumulative increase of 258.53% over 2014 rates. During that period, four years saw wastewater increases with 20% and 35% year-over-year.

Including the increases that are slated to be adopted officially on June 2, residents will see a 248.64% increase in water and a 276.46% increase in wastewater over the rates paid in 2014.

Because wastewater rates are calculated using water consumption — a calculation based on the assumption that a household or businesses flushes down the drain a roughly equal amount of wastewater as they pump in potable water — residents who use more water will invariably see an increase in both line items on their utility bill.

Electric rates have also increased over the years, but not as substantially as the rates for water and wastewater. In the period between 2015 and 2025, electric rates increased 123.14% and solid waste increased 58.25% over 2014’s rates. For most of those years, electric rates increased by about 1.75% and all but two years saw no increase in solid waste costs.

The approval of the budget Thursday also tentatively set the millage rate for the city, though that rate must be officially set at a separate meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 22 at 9 a.m., where the city’s appropriations ordinance will also be officially adopted. The millage rate — 17.441 mills — remains unchanged from last year.