West Central Reporter

Jacksonville isn't the only place seeing an increase in water and sewer rates in Illinois. 

Metropolis in Massac County and Byron in Ogle County are also facing a surge in utility prices, according to a radio news report from WLDS. 

Utility Superintendent of Jacksonville Sally Long introduced the FY21 budget for city utilities before the Jacksonville City Council. The utility department does not receive its funding from taxes like other localities, but instead is operated as an enterprise fund. An enterprise fund is set up when a government municipality sells to the public a good or service at a fee. This fee then acts as the revenue in which the municipality pays for operations, making it function as self-supporting system. 

Long said this means that the enterprise fund must have enough revenue from water and sewer rates to continue performance. 

"Really, I guess the bottom line is the minimum water will increase $1.75 from $35.65 up to $37.40.," Long said. "The average water bill which we categorize as 5,000 gallons (of use) will increase $2.62."

For Metropolis, electric and gas bills will offset each other with electric decreasing around 90 cents a month starting in 2021, and gas bills increasing around 81 cents a month. Liberty Utilities, a gas supplier of Metropolis, adjusted its tariff to make up of lost revenue due to the pandemic. 

"They filed with the commerce commission claiming they had approximately $485,867 in expenses they're seeking to recover," City Council Rick Abell told Metropolis Planet. 

For Byron residents, both their water and sewer will surge in 2021. The city said that water rates will increase by 66 cents per 1,000 gallons over the unchanged base of 2,000. The price will then hike up 67 cents per 1,000 gallons for three years with a total increase of $2 starting in 2023.

Sewer rates will increase the payment by $2 per 1,000 gallons beyond the unchanged base of 2,000 gallons. Each year for three years it will increase by $2 to reach $6 total.

"It is important to note that the City of Byron’s water and sewer rates have not been increased beyond the CPI in over 16 years," the city posted on its Facebook page, according to WREX. "As a result, reserves have been depleted by operations and maintenance. To avoid an exponential increase in your utility bill, we will be raising rates slowly over time to reduce the impact to our residents."