When Pat Campbell of Romeoville received her monthly water bill last Saturday, she said, she threw a fit.
She and her husband had routinely gotten $20 water bills from the village, and now she was suddenly being billed for $240.83.
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”It was a shock,” she said. ”There are just two people in this house and we both work. We just don`t use that much water.”
The Campbells were not alone, and the village says the high bills are not a mistake.
In one day this week, about 100 other angry residents of the southwest suburb called to complain to the village office about their stunning water bills.
One resident told of trying to pay a $30 water bill in person and encountering an office ”full of screaming people.”
Hundreds of other residents called their neighbors to share horror stories. Sherry Ortega`s bill rose from $24 to $168, and she said a neighbor`s exceeded $500.
Village officials insist the bills are correct, because the rates have been raised and because many people`s low bills in the past were incorrect.
Desperate homeowners have been calling real estate agents, village trustees and anyone else they think will listen.
”All the people I know have had big increases,” said Mike Christofiles. ”I guess the village just sent you a bill and if you were dumb enough to pay it, they`d take your money.”
For many years, Romeoville`s water and sewer bills were considered among the lowest in the area. It was a source of pride for the village and a selling point for real estate agents.
But the water and sewer fund was losing $700,000 to $800,000 a year as other village revenues helped make up the deficit.
Last fall, financial consultant Phil McKenna of Chicago-based Kane McKenna and Associates told village officials they would not be able to borrow money from banks to finance water and sewer projects if the deficit continued. So the village acted.
The Village Board approved a 105 percent boost in water and sewer bills over a 20-month period beginning last October.
But when angry residents complained, Mayor John Strobbe agreed to reduce the increase to 60 percent overall.
Village officials conceded that some residents` bills in December were double that of the previous month. Then the even higher January bills arrived. Pat Campbell`s bill went from $23 in November to $63 in December to $240.83 in January.
Margaret Murphy said she had never received a bill of more than $47, not even in the summer when she and her husband like to keep their lawn green. Last week she received an $80 bill.
”I`m paying more for water than I am for groceries,” said Corrine Tripamer, whose bill soared from an average of $45 a month to $184 in December.
Ortega said one of her friends received a $547 bill and ”felt lucky”
when she was told by the village Water Department that she had to pay only half of that.
And several others reported that village employees seemed to have little sympathy with their plight, although Village Manager Linda Lindquist said that wasn`t true.
So what happened?
Lindquist explained that because of administrative problems most water meters went unread for several months. Some residents received low bills based on estimated water use and were now being sent ”catchup bills,” she said.
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The lack of meter readings is one reason why Finance Manager Christine Braasch was fired last month, Lindquist said.
Lindquist estimated that 80 percent of all future bills would be 50 to 75 percent higher than pre-October rates and that the other 20 percent would be doubled.
And water meters, she said, will now be read six to nine times a year.