Aurora is considering raising the water and sewer rate by 6% each of the next two years, which city staff members say would mean about a $3.30 monthly increase for the average residential water user each year.
If the city were to keep rates the same, it would face a roughly $2.8 million budget deficit in the Water and Sewer Fund. That’s according to Jason Bauer, the interim director of Public Works, who gave a presentation to the Aurora City Council’s Committee of the Whole about the proposed increase earlier this month and then formally proposed the increase at a City Council Finance Committee meeting last week.
The proposed water rate increase was recommended for approval by the Finance Committee. It will now go formerly before the Committee for the Whole on Tuesday, then head to the Aurora City Council, likely at the June 24 meeting, for final approval.
Per city ordinance, water rates are updated yearly on July 1. So, if approved, the water rate would increase by 6% on July 1, 2025 and again by 6% on July 1, 2026.
The city’s water budget, which is $57.8 million in 2025, is not supported by any tax revenue and instead is covered primarily by fees, Bauer said during his presentation to the Committee of the Whole on June 3. Specifically, water fees go to cover operational and staffing costs, maintenance and upgrades, engineering, the repayment of loans for past infrastructure projects and the replacement of lead service lines, he said.
Funds collected from water rates cannot go to pay for other city activities.
When adjusting rates, city staff try to make sure the increases are reasonable and that the impact is not too large, but also that costs are distributed in a fair and equitable way, according to Bauer. Plus, his presentation said staff needs to make sure the city keeps up with state and federal regulations, like the replacement of lead service lines, and maintains a high enough fund balance for maintenance and other things that are needed to keep the water system reliable.
Although increases of 4%, 5% and 6% were considered, Bauer recommended the 6% increase because it would balance the water budget without deficits. Plus, it takes into account the national trend of falling water consumption and the need to eventually replace even more water mains, he said.
Currently, the city replaces about three miles of water main per year, but ideally this number should be closer to six or seven miles, according to Bauer.
“If we’re not replacing the water mains, they’re breaking more frequently, they’re leaking, and that’s just contributing to more water loss, which then means we’re treating water that’s just going right into the ground,” he said. “If we start falling too far behind now, then it is just going to be even harder for us to catch up.”
Plus, Aurora may need to start replacing more lead service lines based on state and federal requirements. Bauer’s presentation showed the state will mandate starting in 2027 that 3% of all lead water lines must be replaced each year, and that cost is covered by the proposed 6% increase, but a federal mandate may raise that requirement to 10% of all lead water lines, which would cost the city an additional $9 million.
Service lines are the pipe that runs from a water main to a house, and there is no lead anywhere in the water system except for those who have service lines made of lead, according to Bauer. The city currently replaces around three to four miles of lead service lines each year, but ideally the city should replace seven to eight miles per year, his presentation showed.
For more information about lead service line replacements, including where the city knows or suspects lead service lines exist, go to: lead-service-cityofaurora.hub.arcgis.com
Historically, water rates have generally risen between 2% and 6.5% yearly, except during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bauer said. The city prefers incremental annual adjustments, his presentation showed, so that larger one-time adjustments can be avoided.
Aurora’s water rates are currently in-line with its neighboring communities, and that would continue with the proposed rate increases, according to Bauer. He said the nearby community with the lowest water rate, North Aurora, supplements its water fund with other funding sources so does now follow the model of having the water utility pay for itself.
Although the Aurora City Council’s Finance Committee ultimately voted on June 12 to recommend the water rate increase for approval, the decision was not unanimous. Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward, voted against recommending approval and said he wanted to look for ways to further reduce the rate increase for seniors.
Currently, seniors get a discount on their water bill, so their water bill on average would increase by around $0.82 per month under the proposed rate increase, according to a staff report.
The water rate is different for different types of water uses: residential water users pay a different rate than commercial and industrial users. The city also provides water to some who live outside Aurora city limits, and these people pay a higher rate than residents who live within city limits.
If seniors were to be offered an even larger discount, the city would need to either further raise rates on other water users or cut some capital projects from the budget, according to Bauer. Both he and Bugg said money from the city’s general fund, which is heavily funded by taxes, would not be used to pay the difference.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
