Elmhurst to pass through DuPage Water Commission rate increase; MUF plans water system rehab funded by IEPA loans
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Summary
The proposed 2026 municipal utility fund budget proposes passing DuPage Water Commission's rate increase through to customers, maintaining Elmhurst volumetric rates, and funding pumping-station rehabilitation via Illinois EPA low-interest loans.
Finance staff told the Committee that the 2026 budget recommends aligning the city’s billed water commodity charge with the DuPage Water Commission (DWC) rate increase to $5.80 per unit effective May 1, 2025. Staff said Elmhurst had been subsidizing the difference (residents paying $5.60 while the city was charged $5.80) and recommended moving the passthrough to match the DWC rate.
Director Coyle said the proposed budget does not include an increase to Elmhurst’s volumetric water or sewer rates; instead the change is a pass-through of the wholesale commodity charge. Coyle also described major MUF capital items: $1,000,000 in engineering for the next phase of treatment-plant improvements (bundle 6), $5,100,000 for the water-main program in 2026, and a $7,800,000 project to rehabilitate three potable-water pumping stations. Staff said the pumping-station work will be financed through low‑interest Illinois EPA loans and repaid via capital-investment-recovery charges on utility bills.
Revenue and expense dynamics: MUF expenditures were budgeted to decrease by $21,400,000 (28%) year-over-year due to timing of a large Bundle 5 project in 2025; staff said those timing differences drive much of the year‑to‑year change in MUF results.
Next steps: the finance committee will review MUF rate details and the allocation of passthrough costs; no final rate ordinance was adopted at the Oct. 6 session.