A new Cook County program to assist low-income residents with water utility bills will be leveraged in Arlington Heights and Barrington in the months ahead.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and the Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County recently announced the creation of the Low-income Household Water Assistance Program, using American Rescue Plan Act money the county gets.
“We understand that during difficult times, the government needs to assist those who need it most,” said Preckwinkle said in a news release announcing the aid. “This partnership will make sure that households in Cook County stay safe and connected to the resources they need to provide for their families
The program provides up to $1,500 for water reconnection assistance, disconnection prevention, past-due balances, disconnection fees and late fees to both homeowners and renters who live in Cook County, according to the release.
In Arlington Heights, village officials say there are a number of residents who could use this support to pay their water bills.
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“While we always work with residents on repayments, we do end up doing about 100 shut offs a year as a last resort after multiple rounds of communications,” said Village Manager Randy Recklaus. “Currently, whenever a person indicates that a reason for their late payment is financial hardship, we do forward them to our Health and Human Services Department to connect them to programming that might help them.
He said this new county assistance program will be another tool for residents in need to use. The village manager said the village does not know if any of the residents who are currently in jeopardy of shutoff may qualify for the program.
According to CEDA, which accepts applications throughout the year for the program, families must be income-eligible and live in Cook County in order to qualify. Households must be disconnected, facing disconnection, or have a past-due balance of at least $250.
The village of Barrington spans Cook and Lake counties. As of Jan. 31, there were 78, or 3% of the Cook County resident accounts, that were more than 60 days past due on their water utility bills, according to village spokeswoman Amy Seklecki. She said 12 of those accounts were more than 120 days past due. She said these accounts are a small percentage of the total 2,914 Cook County accounts the village has, a number that includes businesses.
“Monthly, the village shuts off approximately 10-15 accounts, which is a very small percentage of the 4,500 total accounts in the village,” Seklecki said. “We project 15-30 households could potentially benefit from the program, if they are considered low income.
“Even if one Barrington family received assistance, the program would be successful,” Seklecki said.
Individual municipalities have to opt-in to this Cook County program, according to Mike Skibbe, deputy village manager for the village of Buffalo Grove.
“Buffalo Grove is still evaluating and may sign up in the future, although it would only apply to our Cook County residents and would not cover the Lake County portion of the village,” Skibbe said in an email to Pioneer Press.
Skibbe said the village shut off just one Cook County resident during the month of January. Over the last year, there were a total of three water shut offs of residents on the Cook County side of the village, he said.
“We believe water access is a fundamental right,” Preckwinkle said in the release. “This program guarantees that no one is without water due to their income. It’s the right thing to do – especially in these unprecedented times.”
Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer.