The Village Board of Trustees has approved a 50 cents per 1,000 gallon increase to the sewer rates in an attempt to keep up with the rising cost of repairs and operation at its aging sewer treatment plant.

The new sewer rate, which will take effect on April 1, 2027, will increase for homeowners from $5 per 1,000 gallons used to $5.50 per 1,000 gallons. The increase was approved following a public hearing on Sept. 15.

This is the first sewer rate increase in six years and follows $400,000 in recently completed repairs to the sewer plant’s secondary clarifiers also known as the sedimentation tanks.

The village Board of Trustees approved a resolution in March 2025 to make emergency repairs to its 40-year-old waste water treatment plant on Rundel Lane and issued up to $400,000 in serial bonds to pay for those repairs.

The average homeowner will pay about $18 more per sewer bill as a result of the rate hike.

“It affects all of us and no one likes that we are forced into this increase,” said Mayor Judith Wood Zeno. “The sewer plant is at the end of its life so we are continually fixing things, and not just the clarifiers.”

Without this rate adjustment, “the sewer fund balance applicable to the operation and maintenance of the plant is insufficient to cover possible unexpected future expenses,” Wood Zeno added.

In the meantime, the village has pursued a grant to analyze the foundation and structure of the sewer plant going forward to see what the options are for the future. Many of the parts, like the clarifying tanks, are rotted or heavily corroded and there is a concern that the very structure of the waste water treatment plant may be disintegrating.