Des Plaines considers sewer fee hike

Des Plaines officials are considering raising sewer fees by $27.60 a year for each household to put storm water improvements on the fast track.

With the increase, the city could complete work already in progress by 2012, five years ahead of schedule.

Work would help alleviate the flooding of homes, streets and backyards, officials said. Sewer capacity would be added around the city.

But cutting the project timeline in half carries a cost.

Residents, who now pay 57 cents per 100 cubic feet of water, would be asked to pay an additional 23 cents per 100 cubic feet a month, an increase of 40 percent. The increase for the average household would be $2.30 a month, or $27.60 a year.

That would raise an extra $700,000 a year to help fund the project, officials said.

Aldermen recently referred the issue back to staff, and the proposal is expected to return to the council this fall.

"We're putting the option out there to them to accelerate (the project) or leave it where it is," Assistant Director of Engineering Jon Duddles said.

The plan, which increases storm water capacity, was drafted in 2003 in response to heavy rains. Workers have finished $7 million of the $16 million project, which began two years ago.

To date, workers have finished the area west of Mount Prospect Road, south of Golf Road and north of Thacker/Dempster Street.