Crown Point council approves water, sewage rate hikes

Chicago Tribune

05-03-2025

The Crown Point City Council approved ordinances putting into place hefty hikes for both water and sewage usage in the city.
The council on Monday adopted a new water rate followed by the adoption of an increase in the city's sewer rate after a public hearing in which a few residents, including Sam Kozaitis, spoke against an increase.
Kozaitis blamed the need for the increased sewer capacity on the accelerated growth in the city and because city officials have been approached by landowners to continue with unbridled development.
He held up a photo of Crown Point city officials, including former Crown Point City Mayor David Uran, at an out-of-state golfing event.
'It's all based on developers and back room deals,' Kozaitis alleged.
Although only a few residents spoke against the sewer rate increase during the public hearing, many who watched on Zoom left comments including a desire to slow the growth of residential subdivisions, making developers pay more upfront costs, and improving existing infrastructure.
'There is a difference in unchecked growth and smart growth,' resident Sandy Snow Boyd commented on the City of Crown Point social media site.
Under the new water utility ordinance, rates will increase by 19% over a two-year period, with the city absorbing the additional Indiana American Water increase of 36.7%, Mayor Pete Land said.
Water rate increases will be as follows: residential customers who use 1,500 gallons a month will see their total bill go up $3.71 from $19.53 to $23.24; while customers who use 5,000 gallons per month will see their total bill go up $11.58 a month, from $61.01 to $72.59.
Proposed hikes will be billed into three phases: Phase 1: upon adoption of the ordinance; Phase 2: Aug. 1 and Phase 3: Aug. 1, 2026.
The council also approved on Monday an increase for city sewer rates.
Effective Monday, the sewer rate per 1,000 gallons went from $11.07 to $16.71, creating an increase of $5.64 in Phase 1.
This change will be reflected on the bill customers receive at the beginning of May for March usage, Land said.
On Jan. 1, 2026, the rate per 1,000 gallons for sewer rate changes will go from $16.71 to $21.06, for an increase of $4.35 per 1,000 gallons.
This change, as part of Phase 2, will be reflected on the bill of customers beginning March 2026 for January's usage.
The water rate increase for Crown Point, and other municipalities across the state, goes back to early 2024 when Indiana American Water got approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to raise water rates.
Land said Indiana American Water officials argued the increase was necessary to pay for services and because, in many municipalities, they owned the infrastructures and needed to make improvements.
'My argument was that wasn't the case in Crown Point where we own all the infrastuctures, ' he said.
In addition, under the United States Environmental Protection Agency-mandated Lead Service Line Replacement Project, all Indiana communities are required to inspect and replace any lead service line found in homes prior to 1990.
If lead is found, replacement would be done from the water main to the home at no cost to the homeowner, Land said.
Crown Point has been granted a $5 million no-interest loan from the state because of the city being proactive in the project, he said.
In regard to the proposed sewer ordinance, the last wastewater plant expansion was done in 1998, some 27 years ago.
The original wastewater treatment plant was constructed in 1976.
'Wastewater plants are designed to accommodate a 20-year growth, and we are now 27 years past the last expansion,' Land said.
Work that needs to be completed would include on-going sewer infrastructure repairs, replacements and upgrades on aging citywide infrastructure, he said.
Plant expansion cannot be done at the current site but a new open site would be more affordable to build on, would provide more initial capacity for treatment and would allow for future expansion, he said.
Council members Robert Clemons and Laura Sauerman both said they understand the concerns of residents.
'This is not new. We have to take care of what we have now and we can't do that now. I'm not an engineer. I'm a resident who has had flooding,' Sauerman said.
Clemons said many of the issues go back to 1996 when he first took office.
'We try and fix the problem and not create the problem. We have to work on quality of life,' Clemons said.