Bartlett staff outline three‑issuance bond plan and 8% rate path to fund water‑main replacements; board leans toward 1% annual replacement

A presentation to the Village of Bartlett Committee of the Whole on June 16 laid out financing options to sustain the village’s water‑main replacement program and reduce frequent main breaks.

Finance Committee Chairman Leaport introduced the item and turned the presentation to village staff and consultants from Stantech. Matt, the village presenter, said the water fund has declined from a prior high in the most recent multi‑year period to an estimated roughly $3 million for fiscal year 2027, which is below the village’s minimum policy target of $3.5 million. He and Stantech staff described a 10‑year financial plan that assumes replacing 1% of village mains annually (about two miles per year on the system described) and showed two broad financing approaches: cash‑funding as needed (which front‑loads large rate increases) or issuing bonds to smooth customer impacts.

"There is no surplus of cash in the water fund," Matt said, arguing the model requires additional revenues to sustain replacement work and debt service. Stantech’s smooth financing scenario proposes three general‑obligation bond issuances — spring 2027 (~$10.6 million), spring 2029 (~$11.1 million) and spring 2032 (~$7.2 million) — with a 20‑year amortization and an early‑decade rate path that Stantech modeled around an 8% annual water increase (with sewer increases modeled at roughly 5% in the same period).

The board heard examples showing how the new rate structure and an 8% annual water increase would affect typical residential customers (3,000‑gallon and 10,000‑gallon scenarios), and staff emphasized the rate restructure will eliminate the old 2,500‑gallon minimum so some low‑usage customers would see bills fall while higher‑usage accounts would see larger increases. Staff also described that about 92% of the village’s ~13,500 residential accounts are on the smallest meter sizes.

Stantech and village staff presented an alternative: replace 0.5% of mains annually. That option would roughly halve near‑term capital spending and lower modeled rate increases to about 4% in early years, but staff warned it could leave the village farther behind on aging mains and raise long‑term risk and costs. "You could have higher breaks and higher costs down the road," a presenter said, summarizing tradeoffs between immediate affordability and long‑term system risk.

Board members asked for additional contextual data comparing Bartlett’s replacement program and bills to neighboring communities and asked Burke Engineering to provide a five‑year capital plan tied to the chosen replacement pace. Multiple trustees said they favored the 1% replacement objective to reduce the risk of frequent main breaks, but no formal vote to issue bonds or adopt a specific rate ordinance was taken at the meeting. Staff said 10–12 months of additional planning and bond‑issuance timing would be required to meet a spring 2027 issuance schedule.

Next steps: staff will gather comparative data from peer communities, complete the Burke Engineering five‑year capital plan that reflects the board’s chosen replacement rate, and return with bond‑issuance specifics, interest‑cost estimates and a formal ordinance if the board elects to proceed.