Two water options on Board agenda

The agenda for next Tuesday’s meeting of the Village Board has been posted to the Village website. (It can also be accessed from the link in the sidebar under “Highlights and Dates”.)

Under “Old Business” are two proposed versions of the amendment to the municipal code regarding Water and Sewer rates. One proposal will call for the rate increase to appear on residents bills beginning in January. The other proposal will call for the rate increase to appear on residents bills beginning in April.

My initial desire would be for the rates to be put off as long as possible, but that is primarily based on my own desire to keep my money in my pocket. Yet, since the Village’s need for these funds has already been established during the previous vote, and residents have been notified of the impending increase via the Fall newsletter, it seems to make sense to apply the increases to the bills starting in January.

Finance Director Lisa Happ responded to my inquiry [Thank you, Lisa!] about the impact of waiting until April 2008 to apply the changes:

[T]he unrealized revenues from delaying the increase until April is estimated at $118,000 plus credits totaling $43,000 that will be issued to residents billed in October. The unrealized revenues from delaying the increase until the January bills is estimated at $42,000 plus the credits mentioned above. At this time there are no projects that will be delayed.

A recent Daily Herald article reported:

While residents will benefit from the delay in applying the rate increases, Happ said holding off will hurt the village’s bottom line.

“These are revenues that we won’t realize,” Happ said.

Certainly seems like getting these funds will at least allow the Village to have some breathing room. Not implementing these changes until the April billing will mean that some residents won’t see the increase until June, by my calculations — about 9 months after the original approved increase.  Putting it off any longer than January would seem to be just delaying the obvious.