City points to inflation as DeKalb residents expected to see 3.5% water bill increase come July

DeKALB – The average DeKalb resident will find their water bill has increased by 3.5% come July when their bill is issued, a move city officials said was needed to keep up with the rising cost of water maintenance products.

The DeKalb City Council this week decided to move ahead with adopting increases to the city’s water rates and water service fee.

City Manager Bill Nicklas said it’s clear that a water rate increase is necessary but to base it on the consumer price index, or the rate of inflation, is too extreme.

“We feel that would be obsessive,” Nicklas said.

The city’s water rates and water service fee are subject to yearly adjustment in line with the consumer price index, or the rate of inflation. Sycamore city officials last month approved a fee increase for water bills, also blaming inflation for the fee increases. Sycamore residents will see that new increase beginning in May.

It’s the second year in a row DeKalb City Council has increased residents’ water bills by 3.5%.

Nicklas said with inflated costs of the various chemicals and additives the city pays for to keep municipal water clean and purified, said something has to give.

“Just the chemical costs alone and the salt are extraordinary in terms of increases and electrical costs are right up there with the highest spikes that we’ve seen,” Nicklas said. “We feel this is only fair. We’d be losing ground otherwise. We’d still be putting a lot of money into infrastructure repair, but we’re losing ground. So, we can’t afford to do that right now. … This is the cost of our Enterprise Fund, which is supposed to pay for these types of things.”

The city’s approved average monthly bill will amount to $40.97, according to city documents.

Ciity officials said that DeKalb’s monthly water costs positions itself to cost fewer than Elburn residents pay at $41.90, St. Charles at $43.02 and Rochelle at $43.03, but more than Malta at $40.80, Batavia at $38.64 and Waterman at $33.02, city documents show.