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Politics & Government

Meeting Tuesday Was To Decide if Mill Creek Water-Sewer Rates Go Up 38%

A Mill Creek Water Reclamation District meeting tonight (Jan. 17) will determine whether residents will pay an additional 38 percent for water and sewer service.

DJ Tegeler is the president of the three-person Mill Creek Water Reclamation District board, and he's not any more enamored with the proposed 38 percent water-and-sewer-rate increase than the other residents of the unincorporated community west of Geneva seem to be.

"I live there, I’m not happy about it, either," he said by phone Tuesday afternoon (Jan. 17). "But we've worked our tails off to try to correct things. We’ve literally done everything we possibly can at this point."

The board is holding its January meeting at 7 p.m. at the , where it will present and vote on the proposed rate changes. The board laid out the plan at a special meeting last week, and the reaction of residents—"rightfully," Tegeler said—has ranged from anger to stunned incredulity.

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"It was bad enough when they decided to bill us monthly 'because the residents of Mill Creek couldn't budget for quarterly bills,' one resident said in an e-mail to other concerned citizens. "Really? This is Mill Creek ... not the South Side of Chicago! That added significantly to the cost of our water!"

For the average user in Mill Creek that water-and-sewer-rate bill would go up from about $61.80 to $85.35 per month. There's also a meter-service fee, which would go up from $9 to $17 per month, Tegeler said.

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Mill Creek is, of course, the city-sized Sho-Deen Inc. golf-course community that is within Geneva and Batavia school districts, park districts and library districts—but is not within the borders of either city. Mill Creek has its own water and sewer system—which was state of the art when the community was built around two decades ago—and relies on the Kane County Sheriff's Department for its police protection.

The Mill Creek Water Reclamation District board is made up of three people, all appointed by Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay. But the MCWRD is its own political entity. The three-member board consists of Tegeler, who has served for about a year-and-a-half, Mike Iwan, whose term is up this year, and Rick Williams, who was appointed in December.

Tegeler said previous boards were happy to keep the rates low but didn't make much investment in infrastructure or system maintenance. He said the current balance of the Depreciation Fund is zero.

"We do realize that down the road, we’re going to have to start replacing things," he said.

"Other than one rate increase in 2008—which was arbitrary—there was never a study done on what the district needs," Tegeler added. "Had they raised rates consistently during that time, I don’t think it we would have been in the situation we are today."

Under Tegeler, the board ordered a professional review and discovered that, to operate according to conventional accounting practices, the MCWRD should have 25 to 45 days of cash on hand. "We were down to 15 days," Tegeler said.

Before looking at a rate change, the board tried cutting costs. It let go its Chicago attorney and hired Geneva City Attorney Chuck Radovich—at 50 percent savings. It settled three of four pending lawsuits—one of which had been filed by Sheaffer & Rolland, the original engineer and present operator of the water reclamation service area. Shaeffer & Rolland is now in the middle of a five-year contract, Tegeler said.

Right now, the MCWRD takes in about $1.5 million through the water service and infrastructure fees, Tegeler said. It needs about $2.08 million to operate. With the new rate, the district would take in about $2.11 million per year.

Residents also were concerened that the reclamation district was almost invisible to the public eye. If you do a web search, you will not find a website associated with the entity, and you have to do a little sleuthing to find any contact information.

Tegeler said that's changing, too.

"On our agenda for the last four months is an Internet website," he said. "We put it on the back burner to get some of the more-necessary items done."

Some water districts in Kane County and other collar counties are appointed by the county board chairman with the OK of the full county board. Other water-district board members ar elected. To create an elected office, voters would have to gather enough signatures to put the question to a referendum vote.

"That's up to the people of Mill Creek, I suppose," Tegeler said.

Tegeler said Mill Creek has had and continues to have "one of the best water qualities in the area."

"But right now we’re looking at, how can we pay our bills?" he said. "There’s going to be a one-time increase, it’s going to hurt," he said. "It’s not something we’re looking to do every year, or every three to five years. If we can raise (rates) 1 percent instead of 40—or if in a dry year, we can lower them—that's the direction we'd like to go from here."

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