Published: August 19, 2008 08:52 am      

City among few with flat sewer rate

Residents to see at least $9 monthly fee

DANVILLE — Ward 3 Alderman Bill Gilbert likes the idea of knowing what his flat rate sewer bill will be each month, like his garbage bill.

“You can budget (exactly for) the bills each month,” he said.

He has mixed feelings, however, about having landlords be responsible for tenants’ bills. That’s who he’s heard one constituent complaint from.

Gilbert said landlords can add the fee to the rent, but with Section 8 government-subsidized housing, landlords only receive so much funding.

“I do like the idea of a flat rate bill and moving (the billing) to the Danville Sanitary District,” he said.

Aldermen at tonight’s 6 p.m. city council meeting will consider approving a contract for the sanitary district to take over the city’s garbage and sewer billing from Aqua Illinois starting in January.

Aldermen also have received a draft ordinance to review prior to taking action next month on specific billing charges.

Ward 7 Alderman Steve Foster thinks this new system is an “excellent solution” in coming up with average bills and proceeding with the billing.

Draft ordinance

According to the draft ordinance, which isn’t yet complete and still can be changed prior to council action next month, the initial monthly base user charge for flat rate residential sewer charges will be based on average monthly water usage charges during 2006.

Range of average monthly sewer bills during 2006 and proposed initial monthly base user rate:

-- $0-$8.99 — $9.

-- $9-$9.99 — $10.

-- $10-10.99 — $11.

-- $11-11.99 — $12.

-- $12-$12.99 — $13.

-- $13-$13.99 — $14.

-- $14-$14.99 — $15.

-- $15-$15.99 — $16.

-- $16 or more — $20.

Mayor Scott Eisenhauer said a $20 cap hasn’t yet been decided for certain.

A 0.25 cent per month increase would occur May 1 of each year commencing May 1, 2010, for all residential properties.

According to Eisenhauer, if a house was occupied the whole year the city would have data whether or not the same person lived there or not.

“We are trying to stay away from the first six months in 2007 due to the errors in billing that were made in April, May and June of 2007,” he said.

If there is no such average water usage history, an initial rate will be based on the number of full or partial bathrooms in the residence.

The base charge would be $9 per month for one full or partial bathroom and an additional $2 per month for each additional full or partial bathroom. This applies for new residential construction only.

City inspectors will determine on new construction how many bathrooms, if it is not included in the information when a building permit is obtained by the contractor, Eisenhauer said.

The property owner can appeal the rate and have city officials review 12 consecutive months of actual water consumption data.

The base residential multi-unit sewer service charge has yet to be set.

The base sewer charge for non-residential properties is proposed as $6.43. In addition, non-residential users would pay a monthly surcharge based on metered water consumption read to the lowest even increments of 100 cubic feet, at an initial rate of $1.08243 per 100 cubic feet of water consumption.

The rate will be subject to a 2 percent annual escalator on May 1 of each year commencing May 1, 2010.

All units will pay the charge, whether or not they are in use and consuming water.

Charges will be monthly, but a $5 discount is proposed for prepay for 12 months charges. This also would apply to garbage fees.

A late payment fee would be $10 for each month a bill is unpaid.

Garbage fees would continue to be a flat fee. The monthly fee increased to $17.50 in May and will increase to $18 in May 2009.

Eisenhauer emphasizes that the flat sewer rate will be based on residents’ actual numbers during a reliable period of information obtained by Aqua Illinois.

He added about the 25-cent per month escalator, normally the ordinance has a 2 percent increase every Jan. 1. On a $9 bill this would be 18 cents and on $20 bill it would be 40 cents.

“In an attempt to make the programming easy we chose to go with a flat increase of a quarter,” he said.

Eisenhauer said there are a lot of cities that have a flat rate for garbage, but only a few have flat rates for sewer. According to Aqua Illinois billing, those county districts include Will, Lee and Boone in northern Illinois.

Ward 5 Alderman and Public Works Committee chairman Mike Puhr isn’t concerned about the changeover. He’s not heard from any concerned constituents.

“A lot of people are happy it’s back in town again,” he said about local paying.

He said landlords have time to adjust rents for the fee.

“It’s like property tax. The landlord figures that in on their rent,” Puhr said. “It’s going to be almost six months before its implemented.”

Puhr also likes the fixed fees, making it easier to budget. He calls the annual $3 increase “pretty immaterial” with the way expenses go up each year.

He’s sure the ordinance will be fine tuned some more and he expects discussion on the new construction section.

“It could cost a little less,” he said about residents’ bills, because of the more accurate data to be used.