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Residents could face a 35 percent water rate increase if the Darien City Council approves the recommendation of the city’s Administrative-Finance Committee next month.
The city also plans to tack on a $5 service fee to each bi-monthly bill, said Darien City Administrator Bryon Vana.
“Over the past three years the city has absorbed some significant rate increases passed down from the City of Chicago and the DuPage Water Commission,” Vana said. “We have not had a rate increase of our own since the 1990s, but now it is necessary.”
Since 2007, the rate charged by the City of Chicago for access to Lake Michigan water has risen 50 percent from $1.38 per 1,000 gallons to $2.06.
“In turn, the DuPage Water Commission has increased its rates to its users by 40 percent in the same time frame,” Vana said. “Prior to those dramatic increases starting three years ago, we were able to absorb those rate increases passed along to us without impacting our own residents.”
Darien’s rate increase comes on the heels of the DuPage Water Commission’s most recent rate hike, which came after the commission discovered a snafu in its own fiscal management last year.
As Chicago raised the cost of water during the last few years, the DuPage Water Commissions’ sales tax revenue, which normally funds construction, was spent on operations instead.
At the same time, the commission’s water rate increases did not match the increases imposed by Chicago.
“As a result, rates were set too low,” said Richard Skiba, the commission’s acting financial administrator last November.
If approved, the rate for water in Darien would jump from $3.63 per 1,000 gallons to $4.90 per 1,000 gallons.
The City Council is expected to vote on the proposed increases April 5, at which time a public hearing will be conducted on the proposed 2010-11 budget.
Vana said so far, he has received no negative feedback on the proposed increases.
According to Scott Coren, assistant to the city administrator, about 800 subscribers to the village’s newsletter — Direct Connect — received the news last week via e-mail.
Between the rate increase and the service fee, the city estimates it will increase revenue by about $1.2 million.
The fixed fee is something new, Coren said.
“Each resident is billed every two months, so it amounts to $30 annually to cover the fixed costs to operate the system,” Coren said. “Even when people are not home and using water, the system is still up and operating.”
The proposed rate of $4.90 per 1,000 gallons is comparable to other committees, based on a survey conducted by the DuPage Water Commission and released late last year., Vana said.
According to the survey the water rate being charged in other communities as of Aug. 31, ranged from $5.87 per 1,000 gallons in Hinsdale to $4 per 1,000 gallons in Westmont.
Residents could face a 35 percent water rate increase if the Darien City Council approves the recommendation of the city’s Administrative-Finance Committee next month.
The city also plans to tack on a $5 service fee to each bi-monthly bill, said Darien City Administrator Bryon Vana.
“Over the past three years the city has absorbed some significant rate increases passed down from the City of Chicago and the DuPage Water Commission,” Vana said. “We have not had a rate increase of our own since the 1990s, but now it is necessary.”
Since 2007, the rate charged by the City of Chicago for access to Lake Michigan water has risen 50 percent from $1.38 per 1,000 gallons to $2.06.
“In turn, the DuPage Water Commission has increased its rates to its users by 40 percent in the same time frame,” Vana said. “Prior to those dramatic increases starting three years ago, we were able to absorb those rate increases passed along to us without impacting our own residents.”
Darien’s rate increase comes on the heels of the DuPage Water Commission’s most recent rate hike, which came after the commission discovered a snafu in its own fiscal management last year.
As Chicago raised the cost of water during the last few years, the DuPage Water Commissions’ sales tax revenue, which normally funds construction, was spent on operations instead.
At the same time, the commission’s water rate increases did not match the increases imposed by Chicago.
“As a result, rates were set too low,” said Richard Skiba, the commission’s acting financial administrator last November.
If approved, the rate for water in Darien would jump from $3.63 per 1,000 gallons to $4.90 per 1,000 gallons.
The City Council is expected to vote on the proposed increases April 5, at which time a public hearing will be conducted on the proposed 2010-11 budget.
Vana said so far, he has received no negative feedback on the proposed increases.
According to Scott Coren, assistant to the city administrator, about 800 subscribers to the village’s newsletter — Direct Connect — received the news last week via e-mail.
Between the rate increase and the service fee, the city estimates it will increase revenue by about $1.2 million.
The fixed fee is something new, Coren said.
“Each resident is billed every two months, so it amounts to $30 annually to cover the fixed costs to operate the system,” Coren said. “Even when people are not home and using water, the system is still up and operating.”
The proposed rate of $4.90 per 1,000 gallons is comparable to other committees, based on a survey conducted by the DuPage Water Commission and released late last year., Vana said.
According to the survey the water rate being charged in other communities as of Aug. 31, ranged from $5.87 per 1,000 gallons in Hinsdale to $4 per 1,000 gallons in Westmont.
