New Lenox to take another look at water fees
By Erin Gallagher For The Herald-News June 27, 2012 9:30AM
Updated: August 3, 2012 6:03AM
NEW LENOX — The New Lenox Village Board will re-evaluate its practice of charging minimum water usage fees for all residents. It voted to conduct a water and sewer rate study.
The board agreed to hire Sikich, LLP, a public accounting firm out of Naperville. The firm is expected to evaluate the village’s expenditures, including infrastructure costs, Administrator Kurt Carroll said at the board meeting Monday. It will propose a model for how to collect revenue.
“The goal is to meet our expenditures,” Carroll said.
Currently, every household pays a minimum of 6,000 gallons. That was originally designated to cover the financing of bonds, Mayor Tim Baldermann said.
This practice is particularly hard on snowbirds, Trustee Nancy Dye said.
Board members said they were not predicting whether or not the study results would recommend a different procedure.
“It’s possible that it doesn’t change,” Trustee David Butterfield said. “We’re not doing it to make more money.”
Separately, the village is continuing negotiations with Oak Lawn concerning the infrastructure upgrades to the water supply lines from Chicago.
