Mayor outraged by Chicago water rate hikes

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Updated: March 1, 2012 8:18AM

Midlothian Mayor Terry Stephens says he is outraged that village residents will be footing the bill for Chicago’s water infrastructure improvements.

He said the village is bracing for brutal water rate increases from Chicago, but he will do his best to keep village water fee increases at “a fair level.”

At Wednesday’s village board meeting, Stephens said Chicago is expected to raise its rates 25 percent this year, followed by successive 15 percent hikes over the next three years. The eventual 70 percent increase will fund the $2.8 billion cost to replace Chicago’s aging water system. Midlothian and other suburbs are expected to foot nearly half the cost of the project but will get no infrastructure improvements in their towns, Stephens said.

The rate hikes come at time when Midlothian is in the midst of trying to improve its own aging water infrastructure.

Midlothian began levying substantial “administrative fees” on residents’ water bills in early 2011 to pay for a bond issue to fund infrastructure improvement projects.

“We’re going to have to do something because we’re not in a position to swallow the increase,” Stephens said. “We need to look at how we can make this fair and equitable, with the (administrative water) fees adjusted. We’re going to try to help residents as much as possible.”

The mayor said, “people in Chicago get a water bill twice a year and it’s pretty low. Yet out here in the suburbs, we’re paying out the nose. Chicago raised our rates 15 percent in 2008, 15 percent in 2009, and 14 percent in 2010. And now this.”

Stephens said Midlothian and other south suburban municipalities are exploring the long-term possibility of forming an association and building their own water system to pump water from Lake Michigan instead of buying from Chicago. A group of engineers called the South Suburban Joint Action Water Agency is studying this option, he said.

“We’re turning over every rock” Stephens said. “Other communities are interested in this. We need to do something to stabilize water increases.”