WATER RATES ARE GOING UP: That’s What You Get For Conserving!
According to President Bill Lewis at the last Village Council meeting on April 21, 2026, Village residents have been using less water. He said the Village will have to raise its per gallon rate to cover the cost of the municipal water system. Lewis expressed the intent to have the Council raise the rate to $4.41 or $4.40 per thousand gallons of water. He left open the possibility that the Village Council might also raise the $25 charge added to our bills whether we use any water or not.
Because the $25 charge is not dependent upon consumption, it is a tax. A tax that the Village extracts because it can. Why is it a tax? It is a tax because the charge is imposed for a general revenue-raising purpose, the charge is not proportionate to any costs the Village incurred in providing water service, and the charge is not voluntary. The Village can’t disguise a tax by calling it a fee. Thus, the Village’s authority to force residents to pay it is in considerable doubt.
The Village Council has been allowed to get away with it by Village residents. So, Village government has become a government not of the people but of Lewis, Pyle, Kelly, and Moore.
Government is the only business where a reduction in demand through conservation results in a rise in prices. Government defies normal economic principles because, again, it can. Governments meet their own wants and need before they allow us to meet our own. We just hope that those in office respect that they are spending someone else’s money.
That is not the case for the majority on the Village Council. Over the last year we’ve seen that the majority on this Council, Lewis, Pyle, Kelly, and Moore, have no such respect. If there is any friend of taxation, it’s these four. They are “besties” with taxes because they love spending our money on wasteful undertakings.
Removing them from office and not making the same mistakes again is the only solution.
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