The money faucet: Buffalo Grove prepares water system upgrade

Buffalo Grove residents can expect to see their water bills increase regularly over the next several years as the village invests in related infrastructure and capital improvements intended to keep water flowing to their faucets without interruption.

Infrastructure upgrades will be covered through a combination of borrowing and making yearly adjustments to the “fixed facility fee” it established in 2020 as well as increases to water and sewer rates.

Finance Director Chris Black presented the village board this week with a plan to pour more than $200 million into its water and sewer infrastructure.

Black said from 2026 to 2029, the water and sewer fund will be self-funded. But that cash reserve is running dry. The village will need to issue bonds in 2030 and 2033 to keep pace with a water infrastructure that is moving toward the end of its life.

All debt will be paid off by 2048, he added.

The plan is to complete $200 million in water and sewer infrastructure work through 2045.

Residents will also continue to see yearly increases in the “fixed facility fee” established in 2020 to address water infrastructure needs.

The fee, which ranges from $19.61 for single-family and multifamily properties with one-inch meters or less to $224.60 for properties with six-inch meters, is slated to increase 2.5% percent annually. It is expected to generate about $3 million per year, Black said.

There will also be annual increases of 4% in the water and sewer rate, which is currently $8.91 per 1,000 gallons. That will cover such costs as the 5% annual increases from 2027 through 2034 from its water supplier, the Northwest Water Commission, which is upgrading its Evanston plant.

The village pays the commission around $2 million annually.

Black also said the village is beginning to see a boost in water revenues from a new source, the sale of water to the Pekara and Horatio Gardens subdivisions.