West Central Reporter

MACOMB – Residents here are facing rate increases for water and trash service starting this month.

Mayor Mike Inman said the increase is due to the city paying higher costs to maintain its water treatment facilities.

“We’ve tried to absorb those costs the best we could,”  Inman told WIU-3 News. "There’s some fixed costs we can no longer feel comfortable absorbing.”

The Macomb City Council voted for the rate increases by a 5-2 margin on April 20 to raise fees by $5.25 overall. Residents will pay $3 more for the water service, an additional $1 for garbage pickup and another $1.25 for the average resident’s water bill, the report said.

Aldermen Gayle Carper and John Vigezzi voted against the fee hike.

“I’ve voted against an increase in debt service fees in the past because I don’t like the idea of a flat fee on every user,” Carper said. “It has a disproportionate effect on people of lower income and fixed incomes. It seems even more important to me now with people losing their jobs. I could see a different argument for the water and solid waste fees. I’m not in favor of voting on all of them together.”

Vigezzi said because of COVID-19, a number of people have lost their jobs and the timing of the raise is bad.

“I completely understand why we’re trying to do this; we do need to make sure we’re covering all of our bills as we’re moving forward,” he said. “Unfortunately the timing of this is not ideal for people. I have expressed to people in my ward that if we do not do this or maybe moved it down the road, that could potentially be a higher rate next year.”

Aldermen Tom Koch, Annette Carper, Tammie Leigh Brown-Edwards, Dennis Moon and Mike Wayland voted for the increase.