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East Chicago advances stormwater and sewer fee ordinances after $60M compliance briefing
Summary
After a presentation on an EPA agreed order requiring roughly $60 million in projects, the council moved Ordinances 25-0015 and 25-0016 (stormwater and sewer user charges) to second reading; advisers said the phased changes aim to spread costs and shift more to larger users while limiting residential impacts.
The East Chicago Common Council on Nov. 25, 2025 moved two ordinances amending stormwater fees and sewer user charges to second reading after a presentation from the city’s legal and financial advisers.
Joe Alberghi of the city Law Department introduced Andre Riley, a financial adviser, who described the sanitary district’s agreed order with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “There’s $60,000,000 of projects that needs to be done to comply with the agreed order,” Riley said, and those projects drive the need for a phased rate adjustment.
Riley explained the district’s revenue shortfall—past settlements and reductions in large-user charges reduced earlier revenue projections—and outlined a multi-year approach that aims to limit immediate impact on residential customers while charging larger users a greater share. He gave illustrative figures: residential users would see modest monthly increases phased over four years (Riley said residential increases of roughly $3.70 in the first year for a typical usage example and noted a combined wastewater impact across phases of about $13 in his example) while some industrial users would face substantially larger percentage increases in year one (Riley referenced a 42% first-year impact for certain industrial classes in his presentation).
Council members questioned whether stormwater billing should be based on parcel size rather than meter size and sought additional supporting data. Riley and staff said the proposed local approach would give the city more control than pursuing state-regulator adjustments and would better align charges with impervious surface and property type.
A motion by Councilwoman Vanessa Hernandez Orange to place Ordinance 25-0015 on second reading, seconded by Councilwoman Gonzales, passed on roll call; members later approved moving Ordinance 25-0016 to second reading as well. Several council members requested staff provide supporting documents and corrected ordinance language (members noted an error that referenced another city in the text and asked for a corrected draft).
What happens next: The ordinances will return for second-reading consideration and possible amendment. Council members requested additional documentation and a corrected ordinance text before final action.
