The price Geneva residents pay for water and sewer services could rise later this year in the wake of a new rate study that the City Council approved recently.
Aldermen voted unanimously Feb. 21 to spend up to $40,000 for Municipal & Financial Services Group, of Annapolis, Md., to produce a report and recommendations on the policies and procedures Geneva uses to set water and sewer rates.
Officials have said that staff reductions and deferred upgrades to the system will continue if the rates for providing water and processing wastewater are not increased.
Although numerous rate adjustments have occurred since the last full rate study in 1985, formula assumptions have remained the same.
Since then, industrial development, population and the city’s growth rate have changed. In 2008, Geneva opened a $22 million state-of-the-art reverse osmosis water treatment plant.
“Right now, the structure of our water rates is such that they are very dependent on consumption,” said Dan Dinges, Geneva’s director of public works. “So if the consumption isn’t there, then revenue is not coming in.”
Currently, a typical residential customer in Geneva is charged $3.95 for every 100 cubic feet of water used per month, plus $1.33 for the water meter. The fee decreases for larger quantities of water used and increases where a larger water meter is needed.
In addition to the design of water rates, the new rate study will evaluate the adequacy of maintenance programs and the appropriateness of operating reserves.
The review was recommended by the city’s Water and Sewer Rate Task Force, which has been studying the situation since being commissioned by Mayor Kevin Burns last September.
“The current structure consists of a base rate and consumption,” Dinges said. “In order to continue capital improvements and O&M (operations and maintenance), we’re looking at the best way to structure the rate so that when there’s a down economy or consumption you’re still able to implement a significant capital improvement program.”
Officials would not say how much water and sewer rates might increase. The City Council will likely be presented with the findings of the rate study later this summer and take action as it deems necessary.
Although the cost of the study was not included in the current fiscal year, funding will come out of the budget for a water main relocation project that will not begin for another year.
In related action, the City Council approved a project to extend a dead-end water main supply pipe to tie in with other city water lines.
The water pipe runs along North 1st Street, near Wheeler Park, and will be linked with water main along Eklund Avenue.
The low bidder for the project, Glenbrook Excavating and Concrete, of Wauconda, will be paid $171,814.75 to complete the work.
“We’re closing a loop, so to speak,” Dinges said. “By doing this, we’ll be improving water quality, fire flow, water pressure and eliminating the need for an automatic fire hydrant flushing device that’s currently in place.”
Officials said Geneva performed design work for the project in-house, chose PVC rather than iron pipe and purchased the pipe through a competitive bidding process, moves that saved a total of at least $49,000.
In order to complete the project, the city obtained utility easements from the Geneva Park District and the adjoining Smith and Richardson Manufacturing Company.
The water main addition is slated to begin in March and be completed in less than two months.
“There’ll be a little bit of temporary disturbance to one or two holes of the Frisbee golf course while we’re putting in the water main,” Dinges said. “But hopefully there will be grass growing come the end of April.”
