By Madhu Mayer
Despite pleas from residents, the City of Joliet is raising its water rate as officials say the current soaring inflation is also impacting operations.
The Joliet City Council by a vote of 7-1 Tuesday approved the hike that will increase the average monthly water bill by about $5. Earlier this month, Burns-McDonnell, a consulting firm hired by the city, recommended that Joliet increase its water rate by 10.5 percent and sewer rate by 3 percent.
Estimates given at the meeting claim the average monthly bill in the City of Joliet for residents is around $80 per month. The effective start date of the new water rates will be on Nov. 1.
Allison Swisher, public utilities director, said industrial and commercial customers pay more for water than residential customers.
“All of our costs are increasing as chemical costs have gone up by 30 percent since last year,” she said. “To be solvent, our revenues have to match expenses. But our rates are competitive in the current marketplace when compared to other communities.”
The only person to vote against the rate hike was Cesar Guerrero, councilman at-large. Citing grants are available to low-income residents who cannot pay their water bill, Councilwoman Bettye Gavin, District 4, said. “We do want to make sure we protect our underserved.”
Councilwoman at-large Jan Quillman suggested to Swisher that the city should post on its Web site to help residents save on their water bills. She said common tips on how to save water during everyday uses like brushing teeth or doing dishes could go a long way in reducing costs.
“People are getting squeezed at all eight angles,” said Councilman Larry Hug, District 1, pointing to significant rise in utility bills like electric and gas across the nation.
Prior to the vote, members of Warehouse Workers for Justice, an organization based in Joliet, presented a petition demanding the city not raise the rate.
“Instead of taxing working people, Joliet should raise taxes on corporations that have made billions of dollars in profit over the pandemic and from Joliet’s workers,” according to the group’s Facebook page. “Water is a human right and should be affordable and accessible for all.”
Warehouse Workers for Justice is a worker center fighting for stable, living-wage jobs in warehouses and distribution centers, according to its mission statement. The non-profit group educates workers about labor rights and teaches them how to organize in the workplace and community and fight for public and private policies that promote full-time work at decent wages in the warehouse industry.
Felix Ortiz, a lifelong Joliet resident, said 20 organizations signed the petition, which also included Will County Progressives and Black Lives Matter of Will County.
“We strongly urge everyone in the City Council to find other options to offset costs,” said Ortiz. “Prices of groceries and housing have gone up. We need to exhaust all possible options.
A woman who addressed the council before Ortiz urged officials to consider Joliet’s current poverty rate of 10.43 percent.
“Inflation is at an all-time high,” she said. “Please do not do this to the City of Joliet.”
Hug said the rate increase is part of providing the community with clean year for years to come. The Joliet City Council earlier this year unanimously approved a $87 million bond issue, which is a portion of the $810 million project, to bring water to the community from Lake Michigan. The City of Joliet will share the costs with members of the Regional Water Commission that also includes the communities of Romeoville, Crest Hill, Shorewood, Channahon, and Minooka. Following Joliet, Romeoville would consume the next largest water user in the commission.
The City of Joliet’s existing water source will no longer by sustainable by 2030 if the current water usage does not change. The goal is to provide the city with Lake Michigan water by 2030. New infrastructure will be built near the existing Chicago Southwest Pumping Station, and it will be owned, operated, maintained, and overseen by the water commission.
