Elgin water rates are proposed to go up 8% next year to generate the money needed to pay for lead water pipe removal and other major water and sewer infrastructure projects.
City Manager Rick Kozal told the Elgin City Council this week the rate hike will be included in the 2024 budget and is expected to generate about $14.5 million annually.
City officials were unable to say how much that will increase the water bills for an average family.
Elgin, like many communities in Illinois, is grappling with state and federal mandates for things such as the removal of lead service lines, typically found in homes built prior to the 1980s, the separation of storm and sewer lines, and upgrades in water treatment requirements.
The city launched a lead service line replacement program several years ago to address the approximate 13,000 known lines in Elgin. So far, 1,305 properties have been fixed and another 169 will be done this year.
With the money that will come from the sale of bonds — and repaid with the increased water rate tax revenue — the city will have a funding source to replace 870 lines every year through 2036, officials said.
The increase is unavoidable because other funding sources, such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, are no longer available, officials said.
Also still needing to be finished is the sewer and stormwater separation project, which started about 30 years ago and has cost $96 million so far. Elgin needs another $40 million to $50 million to complete the remaining 10 miles of lines, officials said.
The combined lines collect both sewage and stormwater and transport it to the city’s treatment plant, said Ajay Jain, vice president of HR Green Inc., the firm hired as a city consultant to create a master sewage plan. When the pipes become overwhelmed during big storms, raw sewage ends up in the Fox River.
These pipes have become taxed over the years, which has led to more overflows, Jain said. Eight of what had been 15 combined basins are now separated, he said.
The river being a major source of the water used by Elgin residents, getting the lines separated and stopping any sewage from going into the Fox is important, Jain said.
With 65% of the combined lines now separated, “a lot has been accomplished but a lot more still needs to be done,” he said.
HR Green is looking at the best way to move the program forward by prioritizing how the remaining basins are tackled and looking for ways to save money on the work, Jain said.
The water rate increase is one of the items of several topics the council will be discussing when 2024 budget sessions begin Wednesday.
Typically the budget is available to the council and public prior to the start of discussions but challenges migrating information into a new system have resulted in delays, Kozal said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
