Glen Ellyn adds water bill fee to fund fire company
Glen Ellyn residents will see an additional fee on their water bills beginning in May to help fund the village’s volunteer fire company.
The village board voted 3 to 1 Monday to implement a monthly service fee that will cost homeowners $7.50 and apartment dwellers $3.
The village also is implementing a tiered fee structure for commercial properties that will be based on the size of the structure, ranging from $8 a month for properties less than 20,000 square feet to $40 a month for those covering more than 40,000 square feet.
Officials expect the fees to generate $873,876 a year for the fire company.
In the past, the Glen Ellyn Volunteer Fire Company relied on donations through an annual fund drive, but officials say that method is no longer sustainable.
Fewer than 25 percent of village residents contribute to the fund drive, they said. In 2012, for example, the company received $456,000, despite an operating budget of $684,000.
The company has two 20-year-old trucks that are due to be replaced at a cost of $500,000 each, and one of its large ladder trucks will need to be replaced in a few years at a cost of $1.3.
In addition, village officials say they will need to build a new downtown fire station in the next 10 years.
“The fire company has developed a 10-year forecast, which illustrates the costs are exceeding revenue,” Village Manager Mark Franz said, “and the donation program and other revenues are just not keeping up.”
Trustees requested that language be added to one of the ordinances specifying that funds generated by the new fee should only be used for the fire company.
Trustee Tim Elliott, who wrote the clarification, was the lone vote against adding the fee to the water bill.
At a Nov. 12 meeting, Elliott argued against the water bill fee option and in favor of a property tax increase, another option the board had considered to fund the fire company. Elliott argued the water bill fee would disproportionately place a burden on residents of a lower socioeconomic status.
Trustees Tim O’Shea and Dean Clark were absent for Monday’s vote.
Bill Peterson, director of fundraising for Community Housing Advocacy and Development, asked board members to consider the impact the fee would have on nonprofit organizations. Because his group cannot raise tenants’ rents, he said, it will need to raise more money or cut costs to make up the difference to pay the fees.