MSU Extension Center for Local Government Finance & Policy

The aim of this project is to compile water infrastructure finance data for Flint and 249 other cities across Michigan. The research team used data scraping methods to extract fiscal data from city financial reports on water infrastructure operations, assets, and liabilities. The team compiled data for years 2008, 2015, and 2022. This report presents a summary of this information to learn more about the status of water infrastructure, water infrastructure investment, and water infrastructure finances over time. To our knowledge, this is the first effort to compile information of this nature for many cities over time.

The report articulates the key goals of the data collection effort, data collection methods, and a summary of what fiscal measures were compiled. We provide an explanation of the process used to select municipalities, a detailed assessment of the data collected, including summary statistics, case studies, and explanations of what can be learned from the examination. The report includes an in-depth evaluation of Flint, which includes comparisons with other cities in Genesee County, Michigan as well as comparison with Newark, New Jersey and Jackson, Mississippi, which are also addressing water quality challenges.

Key Findings

• Water charges vary substantially from community to community, where cities with declining populations charge the most for water services on a per capita basis. Overall, water charges increased by about 25% between 2008 and 2022. The analysis highlights the critical issue of affordability, where the highest fees are often charged in relatively high poverty communities experiencing population decline.
• On average, the per capita value of water infrastructure assets and liabilities fell from $2,131 to $1,781 between 2008 and 2022, but there is considerable variation in experiences across communities.
• Overall net position (assets minus liabilities) was stable over the period.
• With per capita water charges of more than $800 per person in 2022, Flint is among the most expensive cities in Michigan for water services.
• Flint experienced a major water infrastructure investment between 2015 and 2022, with per capita assets increasing from $2,000 to more than $6,500. Liabilities also increased from $1,600 to $3,600 over the 2015-2022 period. Overall, net position improved substantially over the period.