Springfield sewer rates will rise by 5 percent effective Monday, the first of 10 annual increases that will help pay for improvements to the city’s sanitary and combined sewers. The city estimates the average customer will pay about an extra 50 cents a month for each annual increase, or a total of $5.92 per month at the end of 10 years. The last Springfield sewer rate hike was in 1996.
Aldermen in April approved the sewer rate hikes, in addition to increasing the sales tax from 8 percent to 8.5 percent, to fix Springfield’s worst streets, sidewalks and sewers. The sales tax hike takes effect Jan. 1.
The ordinance, sponsored by Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin and Ward 9 Ald. Steven Dove, calls for the city to use the additional sewer revenue to repay low-interest loans available through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. The city plans to borrow $60 million over 10 years to finance $55 million in sewer improvements.
The rate hikes will allow the city to implement a 30-year, $100 million improvement initiative.
A “facilities plan” that will detail the city’s proposed sewer work for the next five years will be submitted to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency this month. The city could then be eligible for the low-interest loans next summer, Mahoney said.
The Springfield Metro Sanitary District increased its sewer fees by another 6 percent in May, the sixth in a series of nine annual rate hikes to pay for a $120 million expansion of the district’s sewage treatment facilities.
CWLP collects the fees on behalf of the sanitary district.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 