Water rates will be going up for Highland residents again, but the money in turn will go primarily toward fixing the town’s ailing water system.
The Town Council at its Monday night meeting approved a water-rate hike that will start with the first billing cycle in January. Each user will pay a fixed charge contingent on their meter size — $23.09 for a 5/8-inch meter, $48.32 for a one-inch meter, $70.19 for a 1-1/4 inch meter, $90.37 for a 1-1/2 inch meter, $140.83 for a two-inch meter, $258.57 for a three-inch meter; $426.77 for a four-inch meter, $847.27 for a six-inch meter, and $1,351.87 for an eight-inch meter — plus a consumption fee based on 1,000 gallons used a month. The consumption fee will be $2.26 in 2023, $2.31 in 2024, $2.41 in 2025, $2.51 in 2026 and $2.61 in 2027, the ordinance reads.
There is also a hydrant maintenance fee, according to the ordinance.
Resident Eric Sprena said he tracks his utility charges, and within the last five years, he said, Highland residents saw a 3.9% and 11.6% increase in trash collection in 2018 and 2019; and a 50% increase in stormwater and sewer rates in 2021. Adding a 100% increase in the base water rate and 20% increase over five years in the usage rate will likely be a problem for the town’s retiree and lower-income residents, he said.
“It’s a little excessive since (a new rate hike) comes down every year,” Sprena said. “How much of this is covering the operational cost of getting our water from Hammond? Or is Highland using this to increase the General Fund for other purposes?”
Councilman Mark Schocke, R-3, said that the actual increase will amount to around $8 a month for the average user, or less than $100 a year, and will be used to repair and replace Highland’s water infrastructure.
“There’s not a week that goes by that I don’t get a notice that there’s a water-main break in Highland, and I think it’s important that we put money back into the system for a functioning water system,” Schocke said. “We could easily look at other places, like Dixmoor, Illinois, who just went through a horrible crisis where they basically had to buy their water from the grocery store because they didn’t have the infrastructure; we can go back to 2014 in Flint, Michigan, where it was such a crisis, they had to change their source from the Detroit Metro to the Flint River, and we all know what happened there.
“Functionally speaking, I would rather have a water system that works than one that doesn’t, and it’s not like we’re creating a surplus just to have a surplus.”
Derek Snyder, a consultant for the town, confirmed the biggest chunk of the money will go toward capital projects and replacement, with one of the bigger projects — the water tank on Ridge Road — getting painted inside and out in 2027 for $380,000. Bob Reynolds, an accountant with London Witte Group, further explained that 82.8% of the rate increase will go toward repairing and replacing, while 14.5% of the rate increase will go toward the Hammond increase.
Councilman Roger Sheeman, R-5, added that after several months of negotiation in 2020 and 2021, the water board in July 2021 approved a resolution accepting the settlement among the City of Hammond and the towns of Dyer, Munster, Griffith and the City of Whiting that establishes a wholesale water rate for 10 years, with an option to renew for an additional 10. Per the agreement, all the communities, including Hammond, will pay nearly double what they’ve been paying in wholesale rates, with Hammond paying them as well because the city sells water to Illinois communities.
For Highland, the rates increased to $2.06 per 1,000 gallons from $1.61, the Post-Tribune previously reported.
“(Hammond) decided they wanted to charge us for whatever they wanted, and we’re kind of at their mercy,” Sheeman said. “Believe it or not, there was no state regulation that said you couldn’t raise it as much as you wanted, and after we (and the other communities) spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyers, in the end, we still ended up almost doubling the rate increase. Now, is it a good thing? It is a good thing because we know what the rates are going to be for the next 10 years, but it’s a bad thing because it was a bad increase, but we didn’t want you to turn on your faucet and have no water.
“Down the line, we may look for a different source of water supply, but as of now … in fact, as of last year, as the rates went up in January, and we had to pay all that back, but we absorbed it until September so it would be soft for the residents.”
The Hammond agreement establishes a wholesale water rate with Dyer, Highland, Griffith, Munster and Whiting for an initial 10 years, with the option to renew for an additional 10, Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said previously. McDermott proposed in October to raise the water rates to $1.90 per 1,000 gallons in most cases because Hammond has essentially lost millions of dollars since 1985, when his father, then-Mayor Thomas McDermott Sr., set the city’s water rate at 44 cents per 1,000 gallons.
The move made the rates the lowest in the state, which was good for customers but not the city’s water utility.
Municipalities that purchase the water are considered retail customers and are therefore allowed to charge their residents reasonable rates above the rates they pay to Hammond, McDermott said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
