Lake County Gazette

The Village of Buffalo Grove Board of Trustees is set to vote on an update to its municipal code, in line with the recent increase in Lake County sewer rate fees. The voting will take place during their meeting on Nov. 6. "The Village of Buffalo Grove Board of Trustees will vote on updating its municipal code to reflect the increase in Lake County sewer rate fees," a statement said.

In February 2022, the Village Board greenlit the Lake County Sewer Agreement, as stated in a staff memo attached to the Village Board's Nov. 6 meeting agenda. By July, the Lake County Board had also given its nod to the sanitary sewer fee increase.

There has been a surge in the fee from $4.68 per 1,000 gallons in 2023 to $4.86 in 2024, according to a staff memo attached to the Village Board's Nov. 6 meeting agenda. Despite these changes, however, the single-family residential connection fee remained at $5,950. Meanwhile, there was also an upswing for industrial, commercial and institutional customers' Residential Customer Equivalent - it moved from $35.06 to $36.47.

Finally, according to Austin McFarlane of Lake County Department of Public Works whose letter was attached to the Village Board's Nov. 6 meeting agenda revealed that Lake County carried out a system-wide rate and connection fee study which was approved by the county board in July itself. The study concluded that a multi-year phased approach is needed for escalating county's water and sewer user and connection fee rates so as not only cover existing and future growth costs throughout the county but also sustain reliable services.