Canal costs, trash collection, and more: 3 key takeaways from Port Huron officials' budget talks

City budget talks are often a recap of a community’s status quo, achievements, and priority projects for the coming year.

However, the ink isn’t dry on multiple big items that arose in discussions over goals and the 2024-25 year budget for Port Huron City Council members this week.

The following are three key takeaways from last Wednesday’s special meeting.

City budgets must be adopted before of the end of the fiscal year June 30. In past years, council members have adopted the next year’s budget at the second meeting in May. Although typically held the second and fourth Monday of each month, the next regular meeting will be held ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 23.

Freed floats shared cost solution for canal gate repairs

Months after January flood waters tore off and damaged the Tainter gate on the Black River Canal, the city reported still being in talks about permitting for potential short- and long-term solutions to replace the structure that’s shutdown the waterway to boaters this season.

In its budget for next year, the city has earmarked $500,000 in capital outlay for the gate, though when asked, City Manager James Freed said they weren’t confident in that number alone and were weighing other options to help finance solutions.

At present, the city already shares dredging costs of the Black River with its township neighbors.

And Freed said they didn’t expect getting the Tainter gate replaced and the canal back open to only be the city’s cost.

“There has to be a conversation about a cost sharing with our neighbors,” he told council members. “One of the things I’d like to have a conversation (about) is possibly a special assessment district for all the waterfront properties in Port Huron, Port Huron Township, and Fort Gratiot, to help on dredging and the repairs, if not a direct cost sharing for the repairs with the township.

“The issue is we don’t know what the repairs are going to cost, so before you go knocking on your neighbors’ door asking for money, find out how much you need first. That’s where we’re at right now.”

As of this month, there was no timeline set to reopen the canal and address gate damage.

City weighing alternatives for future trash collection

In early 2023, when City Council signed off on another five years with Emterra Environmental for trash collection, the regional company was the only bidder.

And moving forward, officials have said they’d weigh other options, including bringing those services operations in-house, amid the rising collection costs and concerns from residents about leaf pickup and a new collection fee set in place of the previous millage last year.

According to Freed, looking at those options was well underway.

“We are working with two industry experts to analyze our current contracts, and there’s two paths I want to look at,” he said. “First, can we analyze our current contracts and find ways for cost savings by amending our contract? Are there ways we did the (request for proposals) and (can) ask for things differently that would produce a lower result? And the contractor’s willing to work with us.”

The other option, Freed said, was looking at the feasibility of taking back the operation, which hasn’t been the case since collection was privatized in the 1990s.

“It will require five trash trucks. It will require probably a staff of 12 or 15 additional full-time employees. That’s just for the recycling and trash component,” he said. “The real outlier is the leaf pickup. How will we do the leaf pickup? So, we’re talking millions and millions of dollars bringing it back in-house.”

Freed said it’d also take 18 months of lead time to purchase the necessary trash trucks.

In the second year of a five-year Emterra contract, he said they’d have time to assess details either way by next year.

But because it was “a high-stakes decision,” he said they wanted help from industry experts to decide.

“So, right now, the engineering department is working on getting some contracts to bring before council with those experts to advise us on what we should do,” Freed said. “It goes back to the old you don’t know what you don’t know, and I don’t want to pretend like I know the trash industry.”

Other developers may be in sight for city-owned River District site

Freed said the city has roughly a million left of its more than $18 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, which have to be designated by the end of this calendar year.

And it may help boost efforts in finding new housing options for local residents.

It’s been two years since the city purchased the vacant site of the former River District Supermarket at 3550 Electric Ave. with no action following an initial purchase agreement with firm Woda Cooper to develop a complex on site.

While developers await help in state aid, Freed said “that last million” was “kind of like the arrow in the quiver.” They didn’t want to pull the trigger on the remaining ARPA funds just yet.

“I think there’s going to be an opportunity to arise very soon,” Freed said.

In the past, Freed has said other developers could be in play to pickup the River District site.

Although the city manager did not get specific on Wednesday, he said, “We’re very close to bringing something to the council for a public-private partnership to address workforce housing and also at the River District site. We need to have something that can get those parts across the finish line. A lot of other communities across the state of Michigan, across the country, they’re using ARP (funds) to address workforce housing. It’d be appropriate for us to do the same.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Canal costs, trash collection, and more: 3 takeaways from Port Huron budget talks