Mount Prospect lowers proposed water rate hike

Mount Prospect moved a step closer this week to charging its residents higher water and sewer rates.

The village board Monday discussed an ordinance that would raise the rates 9.5 percent, rather than the 13.2 percent that had been previously discussed.

Under that proposed hike, residents would pay $7.69 per 1,000 gallons, up from the current $7.02 per 1,000 gallons. For a household that uses 15,000 gallons of water over a two-month period, the bimonthly water and sewer fee would be $125.35, an increase of $10.05 over the current cost.

While the village’s previous policy had been one of moderate annual increases in water and sewer rates, officials said the larger hikes are needed because Chicago, which supplies Lake Michigan water to Mount Prospect, raised its water rates by 25 percent and plans to increase that by 15 percent for the following three years after that.

The village’s proposal calls for further hikes of 9.5 percent in 2014, 9 percent in 2015 and 5 percent in 2016.

For sewer users not connected to the village’s water system, the monthly charge per dwelling unit will not change from the current rate of $4.58. If the measure is passed, the changes would go into effect on May 1.

Trustee Michael Zadel emphasized that the increase is driven by the city of Chicago.

“We try to look at our maintenance needs in conjunction with our water rates,” he said. “We always have, and we anticipated those maintenance needs and we have made a level increase over the years, and it has served us well.”

Trustee Steven Polit warned that Chicago is not necessarily locked into 15-percent increases in future years.

“They haven’t passed that budget yet,” he said. “They have only really locked into a 25-percent increase the first year. Next December we could find out that the increase is more than 15 percent for the next year.”

The village board is expected to vote on the increases March 6.