Geneva water, parking rates increasing

Several everyday costs of living and working in Geneva are going up.

The city council this week raised water and sewer bills, along with the fees for nonpermit commuter parking at the Metra station.

Meter rates for water rose 1.1 to 3.5 percent, depending on monthly water usage. It will now cost between $3.43 to $3.83 per 100 cubic feet for the lowest volume.

The monthly customer service charge is increasing, depending on the size of the service line. Rates range from $1.27 for a 5/8ths-inch line to $12.27 for a 6-inch line.

For sanitary sewer service, the nonindustrial user charge decreased 2.7 percent to $1.44 per 100 cubic feet. Industrial users will have an increase of less than 1 percent.

The debt service charge for sanitary is going from 61 cents per 100 cubic feet to 67 cents, and the monthly service charge is increasing from 77 cents per month to $1.30 per month.

What does that mean to a residential user?

If your household manages to use 1,500 cubic feet per month (11,250 gallons), on the smallest water service line, your bill would be 3.5 percent higher, not including taxes. The council also instituted a sanitary sewer charge for industrial users of $1.15 per 100 cubic feet.

The bill changes go into effect immediately.

They are part of a three-year plan to raise water and sewer charges. City officials say the increase is necessary to make payments on money borrowed in recent years to build a water treatment plant and improve the sewage system, without dipping in to the city's cash reserves. Revenue has declined as customers are using less water.

It's not the only thing going up in Geneva.

The council also raised the daily-fee charges to park in the garage and the Route 31 overflow lot at the Metra railroad station on Third Street. Each is going up 50 cents; presently, the charge is $1.50 to park in the garage and $1.75 to park in the overflow lot. The increases were anticipated several years ago, when the city refinanced the bond issue that paid for the garage. It decided to back-weight the cost of the refinancing, paying less at first. The money from the fees goes into a fund that pays for the debt, operations and maintenance of the commuter lots.

The city intends to replace electronic payment machines, with which it has had problems, with mechanical payment machines.