‘We can’t play the shell game’: Water rate going up 11% in Mundelein

The cost of filling a glass of water from the kitchen tap, taking a shower or flushing a toilet in Mundelein is going up.

A divided village board on Monday approved an 11% rate increase for water and sanitary sewer services.

The rate needs to increase because the agency that provides clean drinking water to the village, the Central Lake County Joint Action Water Agency, increased its rate 6%, village Finance Director Linda Miller said in a memo.

Additionally, Mundelein needs more money for operational costs and capital projects, Miller wrote.

Officials expect to spend about $15 million on water- and sewer-related expenses in the next fiscal year, said Adam Boeche, the village’s public works and engineering director. The rate increase will generate an additional $1 million in revenue to help cover those costs, Boeche said.

In his remarks about the proposed rate increase, Mayor Steve Lentz acknowledged people are experiencing what he called “inflation fatigue.” But water-related expenses must be covered by water bills, Lentz said, so the village can’t take money from a different fund — say, the one for road improvement projects — to cover rising water costs.

“We can’t play the shell game,” Lentz said.

Even with the increase, Mundelein’s water rate will be lower than that of neighboring towns and most of the other communities served by the regional water agency, officials said.

When it came time to vote Monday, board members were tied 3-3 on the proposal. Trustees Daniel Juarez, Tim Wilson and Jenny Ross favored the increase, while Erich Schwenk, Robin Meier and Kara Lambert were opposed. Lentz broke the stalemate with a “yes” vote.