County to fight water-rate increase for Forest Lake residents

Lake County officials say they’ll fight a private company’s plan to increase water-service rates for residents in an unincorporated area near Hawthorn Woods.

Despite being upset about Aqua Illinois’ planned rate increase for the Forest Lake neighborhood, county leaders are standing by the deal they struck with the Kankakee company earlier this year.

That contract, which was approved by the county board in April but hasn’t been signed by Chairman David Stolman, has Aqua Illinois providing water to the 72 homes in Forest Lake as a way to modernize the water service there.

Aqua Illinois already has water pipes in the area, so the Forest Lake homes — which now get water from a single well that doesn’t meet Illinois Environmental Protection Agency standards — would connect to that system, said Peter Kolb, the county’s public works director.

Jettisoning Aqua Illinois for other alternatives, such as building a new water system, would be even costlier to residents, Kolb said.

Aqua Illinois provides water to communities in seven counties. Its Lake County customers are the Ivanhoe Country Club near Mundelein, Hawthorn Woods, the Hawthorn Woods Country Club and the Ravenna subdivision in Long Grove, according to the company’s website.

In early April, Aqua Illinois asked the Illinois Commerce Commission for permission to increase what it charges people for water service.

About the same time, Aqua Illinois and Lake County officials were finalizing a deal for Aqua to provide water to the Forest Lake neighborhood, near Old McHenry and Quentin roads. The county board approved the deal April 14, but officials didn’t learn of the company’s request for higher rates until afterward.

County officials are concerned about the Forest Lake rates and not the others because it’s the only water system they control.

Because Stolman hadn’t yet signed the deal with Aqua Illinois, officials opted in May to reconsider the proposal.

This week, the board’s public works committee and finance committee reviewed the proposal with administrators and decided it’s still worth pursuing.

But members agreed the county should oppose the planned rate hike, which Kolb said would increase typical Forest Lake water bills more than $8 a month.

“They should have let us know,” Kolb said. “We have to let our customers know that this is coming down the pike.”

County board member Aaron Lawlor, whose district includes the Forest Lake homes, called the proposed increase a “stab in the eye” for residents there.

“(It’s) bad business and bad policy,” Lawlor, a Vernon Hills Republican, said.

Tony Wright, the division manager for Aqua Illinois North, denied the company intended to secretly raise rates as a bait-and-switch in Lake County.

The Forest Lake neighborhood is just a small part of the company’s coverage area, he said.

The county board could vote Tuesday to close the deal with Aqua Illinois.