By By JAMES COLLINS / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- City of Niles residents will experience an increase in their water rates with a 14 percent hike taking place in March.
The hike will take effect on March 1 and is part of a 10-year plan of increases to help the city make improvements to the water system's infrastructure.
Niles city administrator Terry Eull said the 10 year step process will increase the water rates by approximately 40 percent.
This year's increase will be followed by a 14 percent increase in 2005, a 7 percent increase in 2006 and a 2 percent increase in both 2007 and 2008.
Eull said this increase is a culmination of something that happened over two years ago when the city conducted a reliability study that indicated the water system needed approximately $15 million worth of work.
City of Niles officials found that they could only afford to make $6 million worth of improvements.
The infrastructure improvements include two new waters towers and a water treatment plant. The water towers will be constructed on the far west side and far east side of the city to address water pressure issues.
The water treatment plant will be built on Eagle Street and will cost approximately $3.5 million. Eull said the plant will help to improve water quality by treating it for iron.
He said the projects will being going out for bids sometime this spring.