Dear Fellow Village of Justice Resident,
Last week at the Village
Board Committee meeting I questioned Mayor Wasowicz about why our water bills
had been raised so drastically. Since he is 1 of 3 Commissioners on the Board
(he appointed himself to the Commission last Februaury) I thought he could give
us an explaination. He told me that he didn't understand why the bills had gone
up so much and hinted that it was the fault of Millenium (who is contracted to
do the billing for the Water Commission). He said "I will go to the Water
Commision tomorrow and find out what's going on". I attended the
Village Board meeting tonight to follow up and find out if the Mayor had found
out what was going on. I told him that the letter the Water Commission
sent out to Village residents only a week and a half before the new water rates
were billed was vague and inaccurate. I told him that residents bills had risen
far above what anyone expected and told him that I had done some calculations
and found out the following:
The old wholesale rate
the City of Chicago
charged the Water Commission was $1.75 per 1,000 gallons. The new rate the City of Chicago will be charging
the Water Commission (assuming a 25% increase) is $2.19 per 1,000 gallons.
The old rate the Water Commission
billed residents was $38.40 for the first 8,000 gallons ($4.80
per 1,000 gallons) and $6.08 for each additional 1,000 gallons.
The new rate the Water Commission is
billing residents is $49.92 for the first 6,000 gallons ($8.32
per 1,000 gallons) and $7.90 for each additional 1,000 gallons.
When the Water Commission
charged the old rates they were
"making" $3.05 per 1,000 gallons above the cost of the water
they purchased from the City of Chicago.
When the Water Commission
charges the new rate they are
"making" $6.13 per 1,000 gallons above the cost of the water
they purchased from the City of Chicago.
The Mayor's explaination was
that the Water Commission now has fewer employees, fewer vehicles than before.
He said that since he and the Mayor of Willow Springs appointed themselves over
a year ago to the Water Commission "things are getting done". He said
that many water mains in the Villages are 50 years old and that they have had
to deal with several water main breaks. He said that if people don't like the rate increase they should voice their
concerns at the Water Commission meeting. He never really answered my
question he just tried to justify the increase.
The Water Commission meets
the 4th Thursday of the month at 9:30am. The next meeting of the
Justice Willow Springs Water Commission will be on April 26, 2012 at 9:30 am. The meeting will be held in the Justice Village Hall at 7800 S. Archer Rd. (I will let you know if they change the date and
time of the meeting.) If you are able to attend the meeting, please take a
moment out of your day and voice your concerns about the water
increase. The role of the Water Commission is to provide
us with clean water at a fair price. The current rate that is being charged is
far from fair.
Please share this
information with your friends and neighbors.
Thank
you for your time.
Sincerely,
John Koslowski
Concerned Village of Justice Resident
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