North Shore Sanitary wants rate parity

Officials at Gurnee-based North Shore Sanitary District say they are working toward rate parity for all customers. Officials said they believe taxpayers within district boundaries should not pay more for service than customers outside of the agency's limits. "The district's goal as a regional wastewater treatment authority is to charge a fair and equitable fee for all its customers," said North Shore Sanitary board President Steve Drew. For nearly two years, the district and Lake County have discussed renewing an expired contract under which roughly 19,000 customers in Grayslake, the western half of Gurnee and other parts of central Lake County receive wastewater treatment services outside of the agency's boundaries. Since the expiration of the 20-year contract in July 2013, those users were paying about 15 percent less than the 64,000 customers and taxpayers within the district's boundaries, including those in the eastern half of Gurnee. Drew said while negotiations continue with Lake County regarding service for the out-of-district customers, everyone is now being charged the same rate.