Council receives GLWA proposed wholesale water and sewer charges amid resident concerns about billing

The Highland Park City Council voted to receive for filing the Great Lakes Water Authority’s proposed fiscal year 2027 wholesale water and sewer charges and discussed resident concerns about how those charges translate to household bills.

The resolution before council was to "receive for filing only" GLWA’s proposed charges. City staff and council members flagged apparent inconsistencies in the document’s final language (the draft included a "passed and adopted" line that was struck during the meeting) and clarified that the city was not voting to approve rate changes, only to place the proposed charges on record and prepare a response for the GLWA public hearing.

City staff told the council the proposed charges include roughly an 11% increase in wholesale sewer charges and a 10% decrease in wholesale water charges (speaker noted at the meeting). The council scheduled and encouraged public participation in GLWA’s public hearing next week and discussed organizing a Highland Park town hall to help residents understand their bills and the methodology GLWA uses.

Residents at the meeting pressed several technical points: whether GLWA is using meters to calculate charges, how sewer and stormwater charges are allocated, and whether changes in wholesale charges were being passed through to customers. Council members said the city will prepare a statement for the GLWA hearing and encouraged residents to attend in person or by Zoom.

Councilmembers also discussed lead service-line replacement activity and warned residents not to accept meter changes inside their home that could increase bills without their consent. The council struck a clause that would have implied final adoption at the meeting and instead recorded the action as receiving GLWA’s proposed charge schedule for filing only.