ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst’s 28 percent water rate hike earlier this year may not have pleased residents.
But one group appears to have liked it – mayors in other towns.
Last week, Mayor Scott Levin said he met with about 15 other mayors and that they talked about the local increase. He noted government mandates to reduce phosphorous from water were a big reason for it.
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“(The other mayors) were tongue in cheek thanking us for being out in the lead because phosphorous reduction is a significant capital cost that we have budgeted for and are starting to engineer for,” Levin told the City Council this week.
According to a city survey last year, Elmhurst already had the fourth-highest water bills among 17 comparison towns. Only Itasca, Rochelle and Rock Island were higher.
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“It may have looked to our residents like we have significantly higher rates than other municipalities,” Levin said. “I think you’ll see them following suit. These are mandates from the state of Illinois that this is what every municipality has to do. We’ve been out front and addressed it, and they will follow.”
Officials said that this year’s water rate increase may have been even higher if the city had not received a low-interest state loan. For a time, they said, it appeared as if Elmhurst would not get it.
In February, the City Council voted unanimously for the water rate hike, along with a discount for senior citizens.
At the time, officials cited several reasons for the hike – inflation, mandates such as phosphorous removal, and a new policy calling for spending $5 million a year on water and sewer main replacements.
The mayor and aldermen acknowledged the increase would be painful for residents.
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