Elmhurst City Council Considers 8 Percent Water, Sewer Rate Hike

Stewart Levine May 26, 2011 at 01:23 am

this is an awfully bad idea. we already pay too much for water. Water should be free, we pay enough taxes, does ANYONE have any idea how many taxes there are? I thought this was the republican suburbs, now it is turning into tax and spend liberals. We live next to Lake Michigan, one of the largest sources of fresh water on earth, and they want to tax us for it?!?!?! i'm calling my alderman right away, I recommend all readers of this comment do the same!!!
how about we get rid of some of the taxes we already have Mr. Mayor, that would be a good way to get you re-elected.

Mike May 26, 2011 at 12:02 pm

What a rip off, I hope citizens and alderman object to this continued increases from the City, when will it stop! But no charge for flooded basements though! Perhaps the Patch can do a study on water & sewer rates in the Western suburbs. We pay alot for water in Elmhurst.

Jim Court May 26, 2011 at 12:22 pm

The city needs to change the way it provides water. I rented out a property and the agreement was that the renter was to provide and pay for the utilities. Water was provided by simply calling the city and requesting water service. No proof was required, no identification requested, nor any security deposit.
The four men in the house continued to run up huge water bills and when shutoff was pending they simply transferred the service to another roommate. This took place on three separate times. I was never informed of this although the city had my contact information. When the bill is not paid the city simply places a lien on your property and the owner gets stuck with the bill. The city makes minimal attempt at collection and takes the easy way out, dumping it on the owner. As a result of the last person who requested service having a small balance, the city refused to shut water off, knowing that the bill would be eventually shifted to me. Com Ed and NIcor do not operate this way. The user creates a contractual obligation to pay and they are pursued should they fail to pay. Deposits are required. The City needs to improve its methods.

NancyC May 26, 2011 at 12:39 pm

Cut operating costs. It is simple. There are always numerous ways to cut costs but my my my it is just
too painful! Has anyone noticed the fabulous new digs the Dupage Water erected on East Butterfield Road? Perhaps that should have been postponed since they didn't have the money to pay for it - oops - sure they did - our hard earned money.

Mike May 26, 2011 at 12:39 pm

Perhaps Jim that is why the City is raising rates, they may not be collecting all the water bills they should be. Keep pushing to have the City change there ways, how much did you as the landlord end of paying?

Jim Harrelson May 26, 2011 at 12:50 pm

"water should be free" ... i don't mean any disrespect, but you've got to be kidding me. The issue of reliance on the city of chicago for our water is unfortunately one that will only get worse. yes, this is kind of like being reliant on the middle east for our oil; except that as we deplete lake michigan, we have nothing to replace it; while there are alternative energy sources (wind, solar, hydrogen, nuclear), there are no alternatives to fresh water. For those of you that think this is paranoia, take a trip up to northern wisconsin (sturgeon bay), and ask the people there why many of their piers are now dry docks. It's because, contrary to what the "experts" at our local water utility will tell you, Lake Michigan is slowly being depleted by the over consumption of water. One of the by products of global warming is that Lake Michigan no longer freezes over with a cover of snow to preserve, and in fact, replenish, the usage of water, each winter. The experts will tell you that water levels on lake michigan are cyclical, but that ignores the harsh reality of dry piers up north. the good news is that increasing the price of water will make people more cost conscious (i.e. "green") in the decisons they make. just like with the price of gas, if making it more expensive is the only way to get rid of the gas guzzlers and make people more responsible to the earth and future generations, it's a good thing ! the same goes with water; jack up the rates !!

Jim Court May 26, 2011 at 01:32 pm

Did anyone see the program that showed Nestle pumping out huge amounts of water to send overseas?
Water levels were shown to have dropped substantially. Water is truly a precious resource that we take so much for granted. It is my feeling that the consumer is frustrated by constantly increasing taxes and cost for every commodity yet pay is stagnant or declining. Property values have gone down and equity has been lost. Government mismanagement has decimated our pension funding and where does it end, all the waste, inefficiency, and mismanagement. Politics at its worst. Hopefully Dan Cronin will bring sound management to the Water Commission. I believe he will. With all of the rain that we experience maybe we should use systems to use this water for our household needs. Conservation of this precious resource is wisdom.

Karen Chadra (Editor) May 26, 2011 at 01:52 pm

That's a great idea, Mike. We'll see if we can pull something together.

Jim Court May 26, 2011 at 01:58 pm

Mike,
It would have been about $1200.00.

Bill Angel May 26, 2011 at 02:18 pm

Mr. Harrelson, You are taking a bit of a stretch on the global warming stuff relating to a lack of water in lake Michigan. West Chicago does not take part in the huge scam of paying for water. WC has their own water well pump system. Elmhurst could the capacity as well. West Chicago is also looking into their own power generating system to have reliable power. The math for the outlandish sewer cost will never add up so don't expect the Mayor or Steve Hipskind to produce the numbers. 95% of the costs to maintain the sewer lines are fixed and little actual work is done over time to the pipes. The true cost is to "clean" the sewage at the waste water treatment plant that must meet EPA standards. Capital improvment dollars pay for new or to repair existing pipes of the system. You are actually paying at leaset two times in taxes to pay for something that your annual City tax bills should cover. Good luck having the City prove it up. They will tell you we need the money and we need the reserves. God for bid they would cut out the "wants" of the city and get back to the needs of the city. Read and listen between the lines when Peter DiCianni communicates, your taxes will go up every year with this chooch. So far we are 2 for 2. There is nothing you can do about it!

Darlene Heslop May 26, 2011 at 02:50 pm

i was at the finance/council affairs committee meeting on monday. appearantly the city of chicago is raising the rate that it charges its residents, close to doubling it. the contract that the du page water commission has at the present time with the city of chicago to purchase this commodity has a provision that prevents the city of chicago from charging du page county anything MORE than what it charges its residents. unfortunately, the price of water charged to the du page commission is going up, so the price the commission charges to elmhurst is going up (the unfortunate way of the world these days). according to the discussion on monday night, it was revealed that the "funds balance" should be somewhere in the 3 to 6 million dollar range, and in order to keep it there, the increase needs to be 8% - 6% breaks us even but the funds balance continues to decline, whereas with the 8%, the balance comes in just over 3 million for the year (i'm only letting you know what was said in the committee meeting, so please don't shoot the messenger, i do not have the actual data to back this up at my disposal at the present time, call alderman hipskind, it's his job to provide it for you and explain it) as for the sewer rate increase, my understanding is it is due to increased operations and infrastructure costs, again 8% needed to "break even" and keep the proper funds balance. i'm only reporting what was said in the meeting.

Jeanne Warp May 26, 2011 at 04:17 pm

Maybe the city should shut down the two fountains they so wastefully built last year. The city throws money away on the most useless projects like those fountains, then adds 2cents tax on gas purchased in town, and now this. STOP wasting money.

Jim Court May 26, 2011 at 04:21 pm

I believe the fountains are a positive addition to the downtown atmosphere. I just wish they were designed so that children could wade through some portion of them.

Bill Angel May 26, 2011 at 08:28 pm

Mr. Court, I too like the fountains. Where else could i wash my face and hands after a big juicy steak on Elmhurts's restaurant food and liquor court uptown? Can someone prove up the sewer & water increases of 8 percent? Why not 18 percent?

Jim Harrelson May 26, 2011 at 08:54 pm

ok mr. angel, you said ""a bit of a stretch"; then please explain to me why lake michigan is at its lowest level since the mid 1970's. re the fountains, they re-cycle the same water; so should we also close down east end and smally pool ? inceases that relate to utilization (read allocation) of scarce resources tend to be a good thing as long as there is not mismanagement. if you don't like the increase, stop watering your lawn, stop washing your car, stop taking long showers; get rid of the hot tub. come to the realization that government should not subsidize your extravagent lifestyle/toys/green lawn.

Joe O'Malley May 28, 2011 at 03:22 am

I'm assuming that this evil cabal of the DWC are politically connected and are accountable to no one. Lets name some names here! Call them out on this one! Seems to me that they have spent plenty money on the facade of their building and have tightened security......What are they trying to hide? Are they distributing illegal drugs from this facility? Just asking.
And yes City Council Members.....Think long and hard about raising water rates....the electorate is getting a restless and frustrated at your lame and costly decisions. You will be voted out. BTW.....Global warming is a myth and your experts have agendas.