Des Plaines considering other sources for water
Des Plaines city leaders are looking into all available options to supply the city’s roughly 57,000 residents with water, acting City Manager Jason Slowinski said.
The city is in the second year of a 10-year water agreement with Chicago.
However, with Chicago’s water rates going up in the next four years and Des Plaines contemplating its own rate increase for water/sewer services starting in January, residents likely will be saddled with significantly higher bills next year.
It is unclear whether Des Plaines will opt to break the deal with Chicago and pursue other sources for water, such as Evanston, Wilmette or a coalition like the Northwest Suburban Municipal Joint Action Water Agency.
The matter was discussed in closed session during a city council meeting last week, when officials got their first look at a new city water/sewer rate study that recommends rate hikes over the next five years.
“The city is kind of open to looking at everything right now,” Slowinski said. “We’re in an information-gathering stage. At some point, we have to make a decision (about) what we do, but we’re not near that yet. We’re going to look at what options are out there for us. But it doesn’t commit us to anything.”
Des Plaines’ current water/sewer rate falls just below the average when compared with 15 neighboring communities’.
The water/sewer rate study, performed by consultants Baxter & Woodman Inc., offers three scenarios for increasing usage rates each year in January. The average bimonthly residential bill in Des Plaines, currently at $62, could jump to between $80 and $85 in January 2012 and keep increasing each year until Fiscal Year 2016, when it is projected to be between $98 and $116.
That’s on top of Chicago’s four-year water rate hikes, which Des Plaines could pass on to its residents.
For 2012, the study recommends setting a fixed, bimonthly base cost for providing water and sewer service to single-family residential customers at $10. The fixed cost would escalate based on meter size and capacity to more than $300 for large condominium/apartment complexes.
City officials say a rate increase is needed to help maintain aging infrastructure, which includes replacing roughly 13,000 analog water meters with a new digital automated meter reading system, and to replenish cash reserves in the city’s water and sewer fund.
The fund, which covers operations and maintenance costs, is projected to have a $2.3 million deficit in the current year. It has been operating in deficit for a couple of years and is expected to be completely depleted in early Fiscal Year 2013.
The study also calls for higher connection and reinstatement fees for people disconnected for nonpayment.
Water connection fees are projected to go up from $300 for the average residential customer to $750, while sewer connection fees would remain the same. If a resident’s water service is disconnected, the study recommends a $25 to $50 increase in the penalty for reinstatement.
Revenues from increased water rates would be used to repair and upgrade the city’s water mains and sewers, replace equipment at its 12 pumping facilities to maintain water supply and prevent sewer backups, replace water meters, and periodically repaint water storage tanks.