For Elmwood Park residents, watering the lawn, washing your car or filling up the kiddie pool will be a bit more costly in 2016.
At the Dec. 7 Elmwood Park Village Board meeting, the board voted to approve an ordinance raising the village’s water rates, effective Jan. 1. At that time, water rates will be $12.95 per 1,000 gallons, up from the current rate of $11.26 per 1,000 gallons. The minimum charge per period will be $58.28, up from $50.67.
Elmwood Park Village Manager Paul Volpe said the increase is in response to water price increases from the city of Chicago and costs associated with the village’s Flood Mitigation Project, which was finished Dec. 11.
Initially, the increase was to kick in during January 2015, based on a plan dating to 2011, but the board decided to push it back.
“We were waiting until the project was complete, and now we need to increase it to that level,” Volpe said. “The good news about water rates is we won’t have to raise property taxes to pay the debt service.”
Twitter: @DavidDPollard