Prospect Heights brings in outside firm to look at water rates

Prospect Heights will be investigating a historic point of contention in the city, bringing in an outside firm to look into the town’s water rate.

The city council agreed to hire the engineering consulting firm Baxter & Woodman to conduct a study of the city’s water rates and system for $12,000.

City Engineer Jim Johnson said the expenses of the current system exceed the revenue generated. A recent inventory of the city’s water system makes it an opportune moment to investigate the water rate.

Richard Tibbits, city treasurer and chairman of the Prospect Heights water committee, balked at the idea of an outside consulting firm coming in. He said the committee should get the first crack at tackling this issue.

“One of the things the water committee had been working on for at least a year now is trying to work with setting a policy and procedure for setting water rates in the city,” Tibbits said at a city council meeting last month.

Tibbits shared a memo, dated Sept. 21, 2011, addressed to the city council regarding the issue of establishing a policy for setting water rates. Tibbits said there was frustration among the members of the water committee at the lack of response from the city council.

Johnson, the city engineer, said he was interested in the input of the water committee, and pointed out that he was hired after Tibbits’ letter was submitted to the council.

Mayor Nick Helmer said there was no reason the consulting firm and the water committee could not work harmoniously, with Baxter & Woodman providing more technical insight guided by a policy recommended by the water committee.

“A water rate study, the way I see it, is an enhancement to what the water committee has done, is doing and will do,” Helmer said. “It’s not a detriment of any kind — it should help the situation and get you more information.”

Most Prospect Heights residents receive their water from private wells or directly from a private company Illinois American Water; still, over 1,000 households get their water from the city.