Elmhurst OKs 7% Water Rate Hike

ELMHURST, IL – In Elmhurst, count water and sewer as among your increasing costs.

On Monday, the City Council approved a 7 percent jump in water and sewer rates.

The city said the typical family would see an extra $14.89 on their water and sewer bill every other month, or nearly $90 a year.

At the council meeting, Alderman Bob Dunn, chairman of the city's finance committee, said Elmhurst had a number of reasons for the hike.

For starters, Chicago is charging 5 percent more for its water to the DuPage Water Commission, which is upping its rate to Elmhurst by 4.2 percent.

The city is also seeing the effects of inflation and increasing EPA mandates to remove phosphorous from water, Dunn said.

Dunn painted a negative picture of the city's water account.

"We've been teetering just over zero in recent years and struggling in the overall municipal utility fund to get that properly funded," he said.

He said Illinois American Water, a private company, owes the city a $1.7 million penalty because of sanitary sewer overflow. That amount could offset some of the city's increasing utility costs, he said.

"The initial indication was that they would pay us in one lump sum to avoid the interest on the payments," Dunn said. "We are not certain of that."

The council voted unanimously for the utility rate increase. Aldermen Noel Talluto, Jennifer Veremis and Michael Honquest were absent.

Recently, Talluto and Veremis signed the report recommending the hike.

During public comments, Elmhurst resident Rex Irby said the average water use per household increased by 8 percent in 2021.

He said that is not a good trend. Towns still pumping groundwater, he said, are set to run out in a decade and will look to Lake Michigan water, putting more pressure on supplies.

Irby said Elmhurst should change its water rates to encourage people to use less.

"We need an inverse water billing system, which means the more water you use, the more you pay per gallon, instead of the other way around," Irby said. "Many communities are going that way as we speak today."