Chicago Floods Residents with New Water Ordinance

In early September, Chicago’s City Council approved an ordinance that will hike water and sewer taxes. Chicago residents are now going to see a much larger payment when it comes to their water and sewer bills.

As reported by ABC-7 News, Mayor Rahm Emanuel stated that the new water ordinance will add an average of fifty-three dollars to the [average] homeowner’s bill per month and over two-hundred dollars per year. Rahm Emanuel commented on the ordinance to news reporters, “Nobody likes to raise taxes, but everybody likes to make sure they have a secure retirement,” meaning that the money from the water and sewer bills are going towards the municipal workers’ pension (which includes the MEABF, LABF, along with the Chicago Police and Firefighter annuity and benefit fund), which is currently short of money.

However, Emanuel did admit that in a few years from now, additional money will be needed for pension, funds, etc. In 2015 the Illinois Supreme Court found that reducing municipal workers’ pensions and benefits was the way to fix the city’s underfunded retirement system. In March 2016, the Illinois Supreme Court reconvened and ruled that cutting municipal workers’ benefits is unconstitutional.

This recent hiking of water taxes will have a huge effect on budget citizens who find it hard to have enough money for simple laundry. According to the Chicago Sun Times, the water tax can increase average laundry mat expenses by 25-cent increments, which can blow the pockets off some residents.

“Many laundromats are already teetering on the edge of insolvency with all of these other costs that the city has heaped upon us over the last several years,” said Paul Hansen, President of the Illinois Coin Laundry Association. The recently imposed water ordinance on Chicago residents has its effects felt by both citizens and city workers alike. The added tax has the power to not only inconvenience the citizens, but also the business owners that must enforce it.