McHenry raises water, sewer utility base rates in split City Council vote

McHenry residents using city water and sewer lines will see a $4 hike in the base rates they pay on each billing cycle after a 5-2 City Council vote this week approved the increase.

It will raise about $660,000 more annually for utility upgrades than the city would have seen without the adjustment.

The funds will be put toward improvements to the city’s utility systems over the next 10 years, such as lining sewer pipes as well as adding backup generator power sources to four of the city’s lift stations and two of its water plants, and adding a backup water main pipe across the Fox River, among dozens of other projects. The city’s water delivery system only has one such pipe spanning the waterway now, officials said.

“One of the things we prioritized in this 10-year program is improving our redundancy and reducing some of our risks,” McHenry Public Works Director Troy Strange said. “Having just the one [main pipe across the Fox] we do believe is a risk.”

The “no” votes were cast on Monday by 2nd Ward Alderman Andy Glab and 3rd Ward Alderman Frank McClatchey.

“This just gives a bad taste in my mouth that we can do this,” McClatchey said. “Let’s save up for it. Let’s not just ask people to pay more for their sewer because we want to do something.”

The increases to the base rates, which are charged to users of the city’s utilities regardless of how much water and wastewater they use, come on top of price hikes the council approved earlier this year that impact how much is paid per gallon used. Water rates went up 8%, and wastewater rates went up 5%.

But the base rate increases ultimately approved by the council will cost McHenry’s utility customers less than those city staff initially targeted earlier this year. City staff in August recommended a base rate hike of no less than $6.40 per billing cycle, and also looked at raising them by as much as $14.85.

The city was able to bring the costs down while still getting more money for utility upgrades than the $6.40 base rate hike would have provided, by refinancing a loan the city obtained from the state, through the State Revolving Loan Fund, that helped fund decommissioning the city’s Central Wastewater Treatment Plant several years ago.

Under the new base rate structure, residents with each utility bill will be putting $5 less toward repaying that loan than they would have without refinancing.

The money that would have gone toward that loan, plus the additional $4 residents will pay toward the improvement program, will be used by the city staff to fund the planned 10-year upgrade schedule, meaning the staff will get $9 per utility customer every other month to put into the work.

In total, base fees in the city are rising to $45.53 paid every other month, with the payback of the State Revolving Loan Fund loan for the wastewater plant consolidation constituting more than half of the total still with $24.53 from each fee going toward its repayment.

“I think, me being on the council for many years, that we have some projects that probably should have not been kicked down the road as far as they have,” 1st Ward Alderman Vic Santi said in support of the base rate hikes. “And if we can put a program like this together with that type of commitment, I’m willing to move forward on it. It’s a huge project, but I don’t see it getting any smaller in the future.”

CORRECTION: This article has been has been updated to correct the amount paid within the city of Woodstock. Assuming 6,000 gallons of usage monthly, Woodstock water and sewer use would pay $111.84 every other month.